Masters Idea
by xxMiyuki5xx
Summary: An angry Lucy left Team Natsu behind to go on a solo mission. Meanwhile the Guild waits for an announcement from Master Makarov, not knowing what will awaits them in the future.
1. Chapter 1

Here is the start to my next story, I just couldn't wait anymore to publish this. I suddenly had this idea and just needed to write it, well lets look what will come from this story.

I hope that I can update steadily but with my other story which I'm updating and two more ideas in my head this probably will sometimes be hard.

And now have fun reading this!

* * *

Lucy was fuming.

She really don't know, if she ever was this mad at her Team. They promised her, they fucking promised her! They promised not to destroy anything on this mission so that she can pay her rent and not be homeless from now on. But no, Natsu and Gray constantly fighting, Erza trying to break them apart and Happy just standing at the side asking for fish. Wendy not being there since she is with Porlyusica to learn more about healing and Carla of course at her side.

Lucy knew that this would happen, so she wanted to do this mission on her own. The mission being to just catch a small group of thieves without any magic, a mission Lucy could have done without any help. But her Team tagged along anyways, saying they will behave and that she might need backup. So Lucy, loving her Team, agreed to take them with her on the mission.

But the constant fighting and demanding for food, hindered her greatly. Every time they came close to catching the bandits Natsu and Gray started again with a ridiculous fight, Gray came in Natsu's way or the other way around, and the bandits could escape yet again. This happened approximately five times. The sixth time, Erza had just bought a Strawberry Shortcake as a snack when the bandits showed up again. Erza being Erza, needed to first finish her Cake before helping, ended up beating Gray and Natsu for landing in her cake while they fought the bandits.

Having enough of this, Lucy leaves the unconscious bodies of Natsu and Gray behind along with a Cake eating Erza, really not caring where Happy is at the moment. Asking herself why they even insisted on tagging along when they do nothing. Do they think that she is to weak to finish this job on her own or what? That thought makes her just a little bit more angry than she already is. This anger only fuels her determination to catch the bandits since she hopes that the reward is still enough to pay her rent when her Team doesn't cause anymore damage than until now.

So with the help of the newest addition to her celestial family, the hunting dogs Argos and Theron, Lucy quickly tracks down the group. After finding the small group, Lucy takes them down in a matter of a few minutes without the help of her Spirits. Finally having a chance to try out the new tricks her Spirits taught her, in a real battle. Calling Virgo to tie them up they hand them over to the police.

Finished with the mission, Lucy begins to search for her Team so that they can go to the mayor and get the reward. While searching Lucy realizes that she could have been already back in Magnolia, rent payed, if it wasn't for her Team tagging along. Seeing that her search had brought her near the mayors house, Lucy decides to get the reward now and find her Team afterwards.

Just as she wants to knock on the door she hears an explosion and screaming. Thinking that there are some dark mages, who are attacking, Lucy runs in the direction to help. Arriving at the place where the explosion went off, Lucy stops dead in her tracks at the sight in front of her. There are no dark mages wracking havoc, as much as Lucy wished that it would be dark mages. Even though from the looks of it the group could be dark mages none the less.

Lucy is left completely speechless. There is the rest of Team Natsu, shouting her name and attacking random people to get answers about her whereabouts. If Lucy thought she was mad before than this right now is nothing in comparison to before. She is shaking with anger and the dark aura around her is constantly increasing. She shouts for them to stop, but it seems they don't hear her.

Loke feeling the complete mood swing from his Key holder opens his own Gate. He too looks completely horrified and for once drops his normal flirting with Lucy.

As Lucy sees that Natsu's fire nearly reached a little girl Lucy snaps. Calling out Virgo and Capricorn the four of them attack her Team mates to stop them before they truly hurt an innocent bystander. The whole fight is over before one could blink. Lucy's anger fuels all of them with strength like never before. Loke attacks Natsu and takes him out with Regulus Impact. Capricorn goes for Gray and he goes down after a good placed hit to the neck. Virgo attacks Erza with her chains and traps her in them.

Lucy gaps at the sight before her, never would she have thought that she can take down her entire Team in a few seconds. No, that's wrong, never would Lucy have thought that she can take down one from her Team on her own. And even though, Lucy knows that in a real fight the whole situation would be different she is still proud of herself. Seeing that her secret training really payed off.

Erza being the only one awake right now tries to fight the chains to free herself and fight who ever attacked her.

"Does she need further punishment, Princess?", Virgo asked. Erza finally realizing who attacked her stops before shouting, "Lucy! Stop this attack right now and let me free! Where were you? We searched every where for you! We thought that maybe the people here have seen you so we questioned them bu..." "You call this questioning?! Erza look around you! You attack innocent people to ask them where I am, instead you maybe should have searched better for me. Or you could just ask them like normal people without attacking them. Natsu nearly hit a little girl with his fire! What the fuck is wrong with you guys?! First you insist to come with me on this mission and then you constantly fight and let the thieves escape. So in the end I did the whole mission on my own like I originally planed. But your fighting and now this will leave nothing from the reward at all! You all promised me that I will be able to pay my rent after this job but look around you! Do you really think the damage you just did to this place will leave anything from the reward for us? Not to mention the people you just attacked will all probably complain about this to the mayor.", Lucy interrupts her, letting all her anger out.

While Lucy shouts at Erza Gray and Natsu wakes up. Looking amazed at Lucy, she just stood up against Erza and screamed at her.

Natsu, being not sure if Erza will just let that slide, tries to distract them. "Come on, Luce. We can just take a new mission when we get back to the Guild and you still will be able to pay your rent in time.", he grins at her. But this grin quickly vanishes from his face as he sees the look in her face as she slowly turns to him and Gray. Gray, who just wanted to agree with Natsu, stops before a single word can leave his mouth as he sees her face.

Happy taking this moment to come flying back takes one look at Lucy, screams "Scary Lucy!" and flies off again.

But Lucy, fortunately for Happy, doesn't notice this as she slowly approaches Natsu. "Just take a new mission?! Pay in time?! I need to pay today! And all of you know this!", at first Lucy speaks lowly but rises her voice constantly and ends with a Lucy-Kick to his face.

After that Lucy turns around and goes away, leaving her dumbfounded Team behind, again. Turning her head over her shoulder she informs them, "I will go speak with the mayor. Do what ever you want! I guess I will see you later at the Guild or so..."

Lucy, wanting to be alone right now, sends her Spirits back and makes her way to the mayor. There she apologizes profusely for her Teams behavior to him while seething with anger inwardly.

Speed walking to the train station, Lucy gets on the train last minute, seeing the rest of her Team running to the same train but not reaching it on time. This lightens her mood slightly, happy that there is no whining Natsu because of his motion sickness.

On the train ride Lucy decides to ask her landlady for a few more days to pay her rent and then going straight to the Guild to take a solo mission before the rest of Team Natsu is back.

Around afternoon Lucy arrives in Magnolia and immediately makes her way to her landlady. There she begs for more time and in the end gets three more days to pay. But as some sort of security the landlady demands half of the rent for the next month ahead.

So Lucy makes her way to the Guild to find a good mission, happy that she has at least some money already from the other missions. So instead of 105.000J, she just needs 65.000J to pay her rent and then a bit more to have something left for food.

At the Guild Lucy sees that the rest of the Team is still no where in sight. She made her way directly to the mission board without greeting anyone. Now that she is not with her landlady her anger comes back again and she emits a dark aura with a grim face. Seeing this the other Guild member hurries away from her, watching her closely to know when to run, if needed. Standing in front of the board Lucy looks over the missions, completely oblivious to the reactions of her Guild mates.

Seeing a mission with a Silver Key as a reward she immediately rips it of after noticing the reward is 90.000J. Since her anger still fuels her, she just skims over the mission and decides that she is capable of doing it, before stomping over to Mira and slamming the mission in front of her on the bar. Mira seeing the mood Lucy is in reads through the mission and approves before giving the flyer back to Lucy. And without a word Lucy left the Guild again to catch the next train to her destination.

At the train station Lucy looks more closely at the mission to find out where the mission takes place. Buying her ticket Lucy searches for an empty compartment on the train, still way to angry to have company.

On the train ride she thinks about these last month after the GMG. The first two month were pretty lonely for her since her other Team members constantly had special requests. But a good thing about this was her time for training and her solo missions, for two month there was no reason to fear her not being able to pay her rent. In fact she got so much money that the last month was covert too, fortunately. Last month Team Natsu was finally back together and instantly the money she had saved was gone for repairs and her rent this month. But this month now all her saving were gone and she desperately needed money for her rent. But yet again the destructiveness of her Team didn't help, and every mission they took left little to no money.

Lucy, of course, is happy that she and her Team finally have some time again with each other, she missed them all dearly. But how mission are going right now is nothing she missed.

As she worked solo, and even got some special mission for her own, Lucy could choose which missions she wanted to take. Having the chance to choose the mission and not having Natsu choose them gave her the chance to see how much missions offers Silver Keys. She isn't sure if they got these rewards since the people now know that the Guild has a Celestial Mage or if Natsu always ignored them, since most times they are not the most dangerous missions.

Lucy is more than happy that she could add three more Silver Keys to her Celestial family in these first two months. But since she started to go on missions with Team Natsu again they didn't took a single mission which offers a Silver Key, all because Natsu wants the fighting missions and says all the other ones are boring. But what is boring about adding new family members? Lucy always thought that her Team understands her feelings towards her Spirits, but now that she thinks about it, her Team never helped her to get more new Keys. Sometimes they didn't even gave her the chance to look in magic shops for new Keys since they had better things to do and didn't want to wait and at some point Lucy stopped asking if they could stop in shops so that she could look.

She really does love her Team, but how come that they never really helped her to get stronger? Every Spirit she adds to her family will make her stronger, the more Keys a Celestial Spirit mage has, the stronger they are, of course proper training is equally important but every Spirit increases the magic capability a bit. In her two month alone Lucy meditated daily, if the missions allowed it, and trained with Loke to strengthen her body. The last two months she still continued but with her Team there she had less time to do so.

This new mission isn't the only one with Silver Keys as a reward as far as she had seen, so why won't Natsu choose one of these missions for once?

At this Lucy shakes her head, trying to get rid of these depressing thoughts. She is sure that Natsu didn't mean anything with this, as much as the rest of the Team. They just never thought about it...

A few minutes later Lucy is thinking about the mission from earlier and her anger comes back full force.

To calm down she calls Plue as some company and looks more in detail about her mission. The mission is to catch two dark mages who assault young women in the city at evening or night. All in all, a perfect mission for her.

* * *

 **With Team Natsu after Lucy left:**

Natsu, Gray and Erza sat there speechless. Happy still no where to be found. Remembering Lucy's words Erza looked around, really looked around like Lucy asked her to do. And what she sees left her truly ashamed. How could she not realize what she was doing? Gray too looked around, shame written all over his face. Natsu still recovering from the Kick to his face doesn't really realize what is going on. He is kind of mad that Lucy screamed at them even though they just wanted to find her and rescue her, in case she is in danger. Like always he doesn't realize, or maybe he really doesn't care, that his actions results in problems for other peoples.

The three of them sat there for a few more minutes, all of them lost in their own thoughts, this is until Happy comes back and begins to speak, "Is scary Lucy gone? Can we go now and get some yummy fish?" "Uhh... I think we should maybe speak with the mayor first and apologize for our actions her. Maybe he is kind enough to still give us some reward money since Lucy apparently finished the mission on her own and it was us that did the damage and not her...", Erza begins speaking. "Yeah maybe Lucy will forgive us faster when we get back to her with the needed money, we really over did it here...", Gray speaks next. "I don't know, I think we didn't do anything wrong. All we did was searching for Lucy!", Natsu mutters more to himself than the others but Gray still hears him. "Are you really that stupid flame-brain? Yeah we did search for her but we attacked innocent people and once again did damages while fighting!", Gray shouts in his face. "Who are you calling stupid, ice-princess?!", Natsu is instantly in his face nearly starting a new fight. "Enough! We don't want to cause more damage than we already did!", Erza goes between them. Gray, for once knowing that he really has to stop, steps away from Natsu and ignores him for now.

So they made their way to the mayor to apologize in person and explain to him that Lucy didn't have anything to do with the damage and that she deserves some reward since she was the one who finished the mission. But the mayor angry with the damage and the way they 'questioned' his people declined any reward and send them away, not wanting to risk any more damage while they are in town.

So they left to catch the next train, hoping to see Lucy and to apologize to her too. But Natsu's and Happy's constant whining for food stopped them so that they missed the train.

With the next train they arrived in the evening back in Magnolia and go straight to the Guild, hoping to see Lucy before she leaves for a mission. On the train ride they all, Gray and Erza more so than Natsu, agreed to apologize to her and ask her if they or at least on of them can go with her to the next mission so that she is not alone. But at the Guild is no sight of Lucy so Natsu, Happy and Gray goes to the Bar to ask Mira if she had seen Lucy and Erza goes to report the mission to Master, in case Lucy didn't do it already.

After they have accomplished what they wanted to do they meet up at their normal table.

"Mira says that Lucy was here, but just really short. She only took a new mission before she left again, not speaking a single word to anyone. She must have been still pretty pissed with us. Good thing, when she is on a new mission that means that her landlady gave her more time to pay her rent. So maybe when Lucy is back her anger has fade away and she will forgive us.", Gray reports to Erza.

"Alright, did Mira say where her mission is? Maybe we can follow her? Oh and Master said that Lucy didn't reported to him so I told him what I knew. And he told me that he has an announcement for all of us, so we should stay in the Guild for now.", Erza tells them. "No, Mira didn't want to say us anything about the mission. She said that Lucy looked so angry that she scared the whole Guild and we should leave her alone so she can calm down.", complains Natsu, "Happy! lets get something to eat!" "Aye, sir!"

The Team split up to speak with some of the other members while waiting for Masters announcement, soon already forgetting about the events from earlier.


	2. Chapter 2

Arriving at the town where Lucy's mission takes place she immediately searches for hotel to stay, since it's to late to speak with the mayor. Finding one a few minutes later she settles in and calls the room service to eat dinner.

After dinner she goes back out to search for a nice calm place to meditate under the stars. There she calls out Capricorn to help her.

Feeling that his Key holder is still angry about the earlier happenings he starts right away, "Good evening, Miss Lucy. I see you want to meditate and train your magic? Let's start, you have a mission tomorrow so we can not work to long and you are not allowed to exhaust yourself to much in case these mages are more troublesome than we think. And I want to try out something new while meditating, so you need to pay close attention to my instructions." "Alright, Capricorn. Thanks for your help, I will do what you think is for the best.", Lucy nods.

"Please sit down comfortably. Close your eyes and control your breathing. Connect with your senses, feel what is around you, the land, the air and overall, feel the stars above you. Reach out with your senses and try to connect with the stars and feel their power, your Spirits power. Feel how you are connected with the universe, when you connect with the stars. Now release your magic steadily." Capricorn observes as Lucy releases her magic. Compared to how much she could release before the GMG this now is immense and right now she still holds her second origin back. Add to the fact that she can hold this so much longer than before, with more magic releasing too, he is immensely proud of her. The magic pressure around her increases steadily and the air picks up speed while swirling wildly around her and reaching farther than ever before. He concludes that this has to do with the anger she pours in it.

"Now Miss Lucy, stop with adding more magic and hold this position as long as possible. When you think that you reach your end, pull your magic back inside of you. Now we will come to the new thing I want to try out. Is all of your magic back, I want you to reach out to the stars again. Feel the power and magic they have and try to pull this magic inside of you, too. This will at first be hard since you never did this before and maybe you won't be able to do this in your first try. But as long as you give your best, it is alright. This is not so different from your normal meditation, but since this is magic directly from the stars you will be able to hold our Gates open for longer. Not longer because you have more magic, but longer because with this magic we need less magic to stay here.", Capricorn explains while observing her.

He can feel when she connects with the stars above her. And he can feel as she starts to slowly pull the magic from the stars inside of her. He, himself, feels immediately that it's a little easier to stay in this realm and feels that the strain to hold him there lessen as the first of the new magic is pulled inside of her. This fact astonishes him, never before had he trained a Celestial Mage in this method and the Mage could really do this in his or her first try. Not to forget that she is able to pull so much magic from the stars inside of her that he already feels it, normally it takes a few meditation sessions before there is a difference perceptible.

Lucy always seems to exceed his expectations.

Lucy, herself, feels the difference too. The magic inside of her feels different, somewhat purer. Even as she stops her meditation and breaks the direct connection with the stars, she still feels more connected than ever before with the stars. This feeling is really beautiful and calming.

Normally after a meditation session she can barely hold open Capricorns Gate for much longer, the strain of holding his Gate open the whole time and releasing her magic while meditating is to strong to withstand for a long time. As they started the training after the GMG again she was at first only able to do this for a few minutes, now her normal time is around one hour. But after the hour is over she always needs to take a break and send him back. Right now she feels as if she could hold his Gate open for at least another half hour.

"Miss Lucy, I am so proud of you! Never before was a Mage I trained able to do this with their first try. And not only that, you were able to pull so much of this magic in side of you that there is already a difference noticeable. It seems as if you were even able to pull more inside of you than normally, as if this method is completely natural for you. Your connection with the stars is really astounding!", he praises her.

Lucy is only listening partly, she is to much consumed with this new feeling of her magic. She feels somewhat lighter. As his words finally registered, she looks at him and smiles brightly, feeling completely happy at the moment. "Thank you, Capricorn! This feels so good, I feel so connected with the stars and all of my Spirits. Maybe now I will be able to call on you with just your name and without the whole incantation. Do you think I can try it out right now?", Lucy asks him eager.

Capricorn seeing how much she wants to try this out sees no reason to decline. "I think it would be the best to start with a Silver Key and if this works you can try a Gold Key.", he advises.

Lucy grabs her Keys and touches the Key from Plue, "Plue!" "Pun Puun!", Plue dances excitedly before her, he too feels the difference in being in this realm.

"Look, Capricorn! Plue! I did it! Thanks for coming Plue, this was just a test to see if I can call you without the incantation, and I did it!", Lucy jumps up and dances along with Plue. Capricorn smiles proudly at her.

"Is is okay if you go back now Plue? I want to try this out with a Gold Key too.", Lucy asks him, a little bit ashamed that she wants to send him back so soon after calling. "Pun!", he nods while waving before disappearing back to the Spirit World.

"Okay, here goes nothing. Loke!", and to the surprise of both, Lucy and Capricorn, Loke really comes.

"Hello my Princess. Did you miss me? Did you call me so we could have a midnight picnic under the stars?", Loke begins his normal flirting and completely ignores his fellow Spirit. "Hello Leo. Miss Lucy did not call you for such reason. This was a test to see if she can call a Golden Key without the incantation after our meditation. I believe that you will feel a difference when you stop your flirting.", Capricorn reprimands him. "Of course I feel the difference! Do you think so little of me, Capricorn? This breaks my heart.", Loke wails dramatically. At this Lucy can't stop her giggles.

"Princess, I am very proud of what you accomplished today. This is quite a feat. Just imagine how powerful you will become when you meditate this way from now on every time!", Loke states proudly.

The three of them speak a few more minutes until Lucy along with Loke makes her way back to her hotel.

On their walk they speak about the happening earlier that day, since Loke felt that even though she is now happy from her, you could call it 'magic high', she still needs to speak about it to truly let the anger fade as much as possible, for the moment at least. So they speak, or Lucy rants and Loke listens. After letting out all her anger and fears, Loke reassures and comforts her before she goes sleeping.

Laying in bed the exhaustion from today finally catches up to her and she falls asleep in mere seconds.

* * *

The next morning Lucy wakes up through Horologium telling her through their link that it's time to start her mission.

Lucy ordered breakfast and jumps under the shower while waiting for the food. After eating her strawberry pancakes she makes her way to the mayor and speaks with him about her mission.

Seeing that the mages just attacks in the evening or night Lucy has the day free and decides to roam through the city. She hopes to find a magic shop with Silver Keys, always wanting to add more family members.

Sadly this is a rather small town with barely any shops at all. The small magic shop she finds has no Gate Keys. Not thinking that there is another she just wanders around town to look at the places the mayor told her the mages attacked mostly.

Around noon she takes a little break to have lunch and after that continues to look all over town. That is until she finds an old little magic shop in an alley. Hoping to have more luck in this shop, Lucy enters and goes directly to the counter.

"Excuse me, do you have any Gate Keys?", she asks with an hopeful glimmer in her eyes. "Sorry my Dear, I don't have any Gate Keys.", the elderly women speaks and Lucy deflates. "But, if you are a Celestial Mage I may have something else useful for you. Wait a second and I am going to get it.", with that she turns around and goes to the backroom. Lucy perks up again, asking herself what that thing she speaks about could be.

"Here my Dear, I have these special Key-rings. They prevent that somebody can steal your Keys. I know that often the weakness of a Celestial Mage is that as soon as someone takes their Keys they're defenseless. All of these Keys have further special abilities. Some can't be removed from yourself, others will come back on their own to you. And then there are the Key-rings that have a defense magic integrated. For example, this on here will set up a barrier around the Keys and yourself for a short amount of time so that nobody can touch you or the Keys. Then there is this one here that is kind of poisoned, as soon as someone takes your Keys, the 'poison' will take affect, the thieve will become motionless and the Keys come back to you.", the elderly woman explains.

Lucy stands there with sparkling eyes, the memory of Minerva stealing her Keys in their fight, still fresh in her memories.

"Whoa, so much choices! I have never seen these somewhere before and you have so much of them. How comes that nobody told me about them and how comes that you are the only one who is selling them?", Lucy asks curiously. "Well that I can explain to you. One of my dear friends was a Celestial Mage, and asked me if there is a way to prevent the stealing. She herself often had problems with this. So I thought about it and invented these Key-rings on my own to help her and all the other Celestial Mages with the same problem. Sadly there are just a few Celestial Mages left, as you probably know yourself, so the knowledge of these rings never got well known. But it's okay, after all I created these to help my friend and not to make money.", she tells Lucy.

"Oh wow, you created these yourself? It's so nice of you to do this just for your friend! May I ask, you said 'was a Celestial Mage' did something happen to her?", Lucy asks, hoping that this question isn't to personal. "Ah no no no. She is still alive if you thought I mean this. But she is to old to call her Spirit anymore. In fact, I believe that she just gave her Silver Key as a reward for our little problem her in town. Oh my Dear, now that I speak about it, please be careful there a dark mages here that attack young beautiful girls just like you! Wait... you are a Celestial Mage...", at this point she sees Lucy's Guildmark on her hand and becomes more excitedly than before, "Dear, tell me, are you Lucy from Fairy Tail the Celestial Mage? Are you here to take the mission?" Lucy nods and smiles at her, "Yes, after I have seen that the mission here has a Silver Key, I just needed to take this mission! Is your friend really alright with giving her Key away?"

"Don't worry, she was looking for a Celestial Mage who will take her Key for a really long time now. She always just had this one Key, but they were great friends and after she had seen the way you interact with your Spirits at the Grand Magic Games, she wanted you to have her Key. I believe our mayor wanted to give this mission to another Guild at first but she convinced him to ask Fairy Tail so that you will get her Key as a reward! So have you decided what Key-ring you want?" "Oh really? They were great friend? Maybe you can tell me were I can meet your friend, than she can be there when I make a contract with this Spirit and they can speak again. And no, there are just so many choices. Tell me, this ring which poisons the thieve to set him motionless, is this the only thing the poison will do or are there any side effects in the future?", she asks, not really wanting to hurt someone permanently.

"How about you meet her here in my shop when your mission is over? I will speak with her, she wanted to come here tomorrow anyways so this is perfect. And no, there is no future damage to the person who steals this ring.", she suggests. "That would be great. Than I will meet you her tomorrow, hopefully I can catch these dark mages later. Hmm... I think in that case I will buy this Key-ring for myself. How much are they?" "Please be careful while catching these mages, my Dear! Each ring costs 5.000J", she says while already collecting the other rings to take them away. "Oh wait, I think I will this other Key-ring with the protective shield for my friend Yukino.", Lucy speaks up.

The woman nods and sets this Key-ring aside while taking the other ones back to the storeroom. In the meantime Lucy takes out her money to pay for the rings. Her new Key-ring is purple and the one for Yukino is see-through.

Seeing that it already gets dark outside Lucy says goodbye and makes her way in town to search for these dark mages.

She calls out Aquila to look from the sky for any suspicious looking males and Canes Venatici to cover the ground. The four of them split up and searches. Lucy hopes that they cover enough ground to find them before they assault a new young woman. But with the town so small, she hopes for the best.

Two hours later they still didn't see anything and Lucy is asking herself if they perhaps knew that she is searching for them and hide to wait until she gives up. Furthermore Lucy realizes that even though she had two Silver Keys open for two hour, she doesn't feel tired in the slightest, happy that her training paid off.

Another half hour later Theron calls her through their link, _"Princess, I found two suspicious looking males. They are following two young women. Please hurry, I will try to hold them of to protect the two women."_ After finishing he sends an image, so Lucy knows where he is. _"Princess, I will run to my brother and aid him!"_ , Argos speaks up. _"I too will fly there and help as good as possible with my lightning, Princess."_

Lucy begins sprinting in the right direction after confirming with Pyxis that this is the way.

Arriving at the place she sees Argos and Theron protecting the women and Aquila shooting his lightning at the two men so that they can't escape. From the looks of it they already took quite some damage.

It seems as if just one of the dark mages uses his own magic. He is attacking the three Spirits with magic chains, but all three of them are way to fast and can avoid them. He is nothing compared to Virgo when she is in punishing-mood. While Aquila is attacking the other mage, the one with the chains gets him and the chains wraps around him. But this is a bad mistake from the dark mage. Lightning and metal chains are really not a good combination, Aquila just lets his magic run along the chain and electrocutes the mage.

As soon as Aquila is concentrated on this mage and seemingly defeated, the other one attacks the two dogs. Now Lucy understands why he until now didn't use his magic, he uses water magic, another bad combination with lightning.

Soon the chain mage is defeated but Aquila too needed to go back since the chains could grow spikes which hurt him badly.

The dogs were trying to avoid the water attacks but simultaneously protecting the women is hard.

"Scutum! Please erect a barrier around the women and protect them!" With the barrier now around them, the hunting dogs could concentrate more on the fight.

Lucy in the meantime tries to sneak up to him, whip in one hand and Keys in the other. She hopes that Argos and Theron distracts him enough so that she could land a hit. In the right moment Lucy attacks with her whip, wraps the whip around him and sends him flying with a flip of her wrist in her direction where she waits to deliver a Lucy-Kick. Sadly he uses his water to stop his movement and evades the Kick. While his back is turned to the dogs, Argos pounced on him and brings his fangs down on his leg. The mage screamed and attacked the dog at his leg with boiling hot water. Argos whines and vanishes back to the Spirit World.

Angry that both Aquila and Argos got hurt so badly Lucy calls Sagittarius and sends Theron back. She has realized that close-combat isn't really working with this mage and now hopes that Sagittarius can get through his defense. The problem now is that the water mage can erect a barrier around him self that blocks the arrows. Lucy observes that this barrier ist just over the ground so she calls Virgo quietly, telling her through the link that she should appear directly in the ground to surprise the mage.

The surprise attack works and the mage falls in the pit hole, his barrier falling down in the process and Sagittarius' arrows finally reaching their target. After being hit with enough arrows Virgo jumps back in the hole and wraps her chains around him. She throws him in the direction of Lucy, who again, waits to deliver her Lucy-Kick. This time her foot connects with his head and he is out cold.

Finally finished with the fight Lucy thanks her Spirits and sends them back after Virgo tied them up with magic-cancelling handcuffs.

Seeing that it's safe now the two saved women run to Lucy and hug her while thanking her profusely. They speak for a few more minutes while waiting for the rune knights to arrest the dark mages, who Lucy called. Luckily for her, they have a few teleportation mages so that they arrive rather fast and Lucy can go back to the hotel, eat a fast dinner before falling exhausted in her bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Lucy wakes up on her own, feeling completely refreshed with her magic levels back to normal. Since it's later than her normal time to wake up she stands up and gets ready before walking to the mayor to report the completed mission.

The mayor being so happy that his town didn't get damaged in the fight, which he knows is a normal occurrence with Fairy Tail, wants to give her a little extra. He made the reward smaller in precaution to possible damages. Lucy says that she can't accept so he gives her a coupons for free meals today, insisting that she takes them.

The Silver Key he hands over in a small velvet box, telling her that the previous owner told him about Lucy's offer to meet her Spirit again. They speak a little more before Lucy makes her way to the magic shop from yesterday, still not having looked which Key she got.

As she arrives at the magic shop it's already noon. The elderly woman tells Lucy that she wanted to meet up with her friend at a small little cafe to eat lunch ans asks Lucy to tag along. She closes the shop and they made their way to the cafe. Deciding to sit out side they take a seat and wait for the last woman.

"Did you wait long Anni? Oh and you are Lucy from Fairy Tail, are you not?", the awaited woman begins while sitting down. "Ah don't worry Elli, we just arrived too. And yes this lovely young woman is Lucy. The girl you couldn't stop talking about after watching the Grand Magic Games.", she teases her. Lucy smiles at the interaction between to two, you just can see that these two are long time friends.

"Hello, yes I am Lucy. It's nice to meet you. Anni told me about your relationship with my new Silver Key and I am so happy to meet some else who treats the Spirits as friends and not as tools!", she smiles at her.

"Sorry to interrupted but did you already choose what you want to eat?", a waitress asks. They quickly look over the menu and order each something.

After ordering they resume their talk, "As I saw you fight and how you interacted with your Spirits I just knew that I have finally found a new Mage for my old friend. Already at the time I was a working mage the few other Celestial Mages I met, were treating their Spirits poorly, sadly their was nothing I could do about it. Maybe you will be able to change the opinion of these mages and help the Spirits to be treated better. Elli told me that you will let me watch while you make the contract, I am so thankful for that. It's been a really long time since I was able to call him. Did you already look which Key you got?"

"I really hope that I will be able to change the way Spirits are treated. So far I only met three other Celestial Mages and now you. One of them was very abusive and with the other I'm not so sure but believe that he wasn't a good Celestial Mage too. The only other Celestial Mage I met so far is Yukino and now you. And no, I haven't looked which Key I got, I thought I will let it be a surprise for later."

While lunch they all have some more small talk. After finishing Lucy takes out her coupons and pays for them all before the other two have a chance to pay. They protest a bit but let Lucy pay in the end. Now they are searching for a place to summon the Spirit, Elli told her that she will need a rather big and open place. Currently they are searching in the woods around them and finally found a big enough clearing.

Both older women are practically jumping in excitement as Lucy takes out the velvet box with the Key. She carefully opens the box and gabs as soon as she recognized which Keys lays before her.

"Hydra! You had the Key from the Hydra the sea serpent! I heard stories from my mother about this Spirit but I never heard from someone who actually had the Key! I heard that he is really strong! Now I understand why you said that we need a big place to summon him.", Lucy says with sparkling eyes.

"Yeah, I found his Key coincidentally and decided back than that I want to learn Celestial Magic. He really is a strong Spirit and he was a great friend! I hope you will have just as much fun with him as I had. Now please, go on and call him!", Elli requests. "Of course!" Lucy takes the Key, steps for and the Key in front of her.

"I am linked to the path to the World of Celestial Spirits, now! O Spirit, answer my call and pass through the Gate. Open Gate of the Sea Serpent, Hydra!" Before them appeared dark blue nearly black smoke, which looks like the water deep down in the ocean. You can hear rumbling in the smoke as if there is coming something truly big and terrifying. The first thing you can make out in the smoke are 4 pairs of glowing eyes, deep blue, red, white and brown. Next comes the heads belonging to theses eyes with their mouths wide open with long pointed fangs, back in the throat you can see same colors as their eyes. These heads looks more as if they belong to a Dragon than a Serpent. In the back there is still the rumbling. Following the heads, first one than a seconds feet steps through the smoke with sharp claws. Than comes his body and the last two feet with again, sharp claws. The last thing that comes through the smoke is the tail, which has sharp spikes at the end. As soon as Hydra stands completely in front of them in all his terrifying glory the smoke vanished. Hydras body is colored black with his tummy in a dark shade of blue.

Behind Lucy stands Elli and Anni, both smiling brightly at the sea monster, both already knowing how he looks. Lucy on the other hand gulps and can't stop the shiver that runs down her spine in fright. Never before had she seen such a terrifying creature, she is suddenly very happy that none of the dark Celestial Mages she had to fight had this Key in their possession.

Not wanting to seem afraid in front of her hopefully new Spirit, Lucy speaks up, "Hello Hydra. My name is Lucy Heartfilia and I would like to make a contract with you, if you want to. I believe you remember the two women behind me."

The blue-eyed answers her, "Lucy Heartfilia, you are the Mage who is favored by our King. The one most of the other Spirits call Princess. Of course we want to make contract with you. We are more than happy to have such a nice new Key holder. We already heard stories about your kindness and that you treat us as family and not as servants. Would it be alright with you when we call you Princess too? And Elli, Anni it's good to see you again. Thank you very much for finding us such a great new owner, Elli!" "Hello my old friends, it's so good to see you, it's been so long. And I really had no choice who will get your Key. I couldn't just give your Key to any Celestial Mage, I needed to know that you will be treated properly!", Elli responds while patting each head shortly.

"If you want to, you can call me Princess. But Lucy or anything else would be finde too, as long as it isn't Master. We are all equals, so no need to treat me as if I am above you. Please tell me when can I call you? What exactly are your abilities? Is there something else I need to know? Oh and does each head have a name? It would be very confusing to call all of you Hydra.", she smiles at them.

"Tell me little human girl, what do you now already about us? An..." "Hayden, stop this and treat our new Princess with respect!", the blue-eyed one interrupts the red-eyed one. "Och, your no fun Calder!", Hayden begins only to be interrupted by the one with white eyes, "Stop your bickering you two, is that the first impression you want to give our new Key holder?"

Having enough of the other three heads the last one speaks up, seemingly the calmest one. "There they go again... Then I will answer all your question, Princess. As you have now already heard, yes we all have different names. And each from us can control a different element. The color of our eyes represents our element. The red-eyed one is Hayden and controls fire, blue-eyes is Calder with water, white eyes is Niyol with air and I am Trevet and can control earth. Well we can not directly control this element, more like we can attack with the element through a roar. Our skin is pretty hard and it mostly takes some time until an attack hurts us. Like in the myth we will grow two more heads when one is decapitated, apart from my head. I will grow just as one head again. Each time a head is decapitated we will gain a new element along with the old element. The most heads we can grow is seven after that it will always be just the one head which grows again. Hayden will grow along with Rai who attacks with lightning. Calder will grow with Korah who attacks with ice and Niyol will grow with Najm who attacks with celestial magic. When we are send back, the next time when we are called we will again start with these four heads. Our weakness is that there is a maximum to how often a head can grow again. After the fifth time a head is decapitated he can't grow again but the remaining heads can still continue to fight. The five times rule sets in as soon as two heads did grow again, that means that apart from me the other three here can grow six times. Another weakness would be that, apart from our heads, our body moves rather slowly on land. I think that is all you need to know. Oh and you can call us anytime you want except from each first and last day of a month. But when there is an emergency you can call us on these days too."

"Oh wow, so much information. Thanks, Trevet. With all these different heads who can use different attacks I believe that you will need quite some magic in a fight when all of you attack at the same time. But I don't want you to worry about that, I think I can handle it!", Lucy tells him.

While Trevet explains everything to Lucy the other three heads speak with Elli and Anni to catch up. Finishing their talk Lucy and Trevet joins them.

As it slowly turns dark around them Lucy tells the others that she needs to get back home to pay her rent. So Hydra goes back to the Spirit Realm with a promise from Lucy to sometimes visit their old Master to see each other again.

The three women make their way back to town and the train station. Arriving they only have a few minutes to spare until the train leaves. They say each other a warm goodbye and Lucy enters the train. Waving each other until they can't see each other anymore.

* * *

Arriving back in Magnolia Lucy goes shortly groceries shopping before going to her landlady to finally pay her rent.

Having finished paying she goes to her own apartment to cook herself dinner, not wanting to go to the Guild today.

While cooking she realizes that she needs to take a new mission soon, if she wants to be able to buy herself something to eat, now only having 10.000J left. Furthermore she realizes that she still didn't replaced her old Key-ring with the new one she just bought yesterday. So after dinner she just does that.

Taking out her new Key-ring she releases some of her magic into the ring to start the magic inside. Furthermore her magic helps the ring to identify her so that the magic inside knows that she is the owner which the ring won't attack and to whom the ring needs to return after being removed. Having finished activating the magic Lucy attached her Keys to the new ring.

When it's completely dark outside Lucy takes her Keys and goes outside in the forest to the clearing where she normally trains. There she calls Loke first, to do her normal routine.

As warming up they run a few laps around the clearing, after that they do some exercises to strengthen her muscles, such as push-ups and sit-ups. After a short break to regain her breathing they do some hand-to-hand combat until Lucy needs another break. In their break they just sits their and talk about random things while watching the stars.

Next is Capricorn, who leads her through the same meditation method than the other night. Again amazed about the fact how much magic she can release now and, more so, how much magic from the stars she can pull inside of her. He observes as her magic creates a little storm around her and as the magic from the stars goes to her, it looks as if she is pulling the stars themselves to her. That, of course, is something only he or other Celestial Beings can see.

Once Lucy has finished her meditation she sends Capricorn back and just lays under the stars for a little while longer.

She thinks about how she will react, when she sees her Team again tomorrow at the Guild. When she thinks about it now, she is still angry with them but the meditation really helped her to calm down. And that she still has her apartment helps too. And even though her anger is less compared to the day of their mission she still is quite upset with them. Lucy really hopes that Natsu won't show up in her apartment tonight while she sleeps, she at least needs another peaceful night before seeing them again without lashing out.

As it's near midnight Lucy makes her way back to her apartment to sleep. To tired to do much more she stumbles to her desk to write a letter to her mother, telling her about her new Silver Key and what happened on her last missions. Sealing the letter she places him in the box with the other ones.

Finished with this task, she changes out of her clothes and falls in her bed, happy that she didn't turned the lights on, other than the one at her desk, and immediately falls in a deep slumber.

* * *

 **A little earlier:**

Natsu and Happy are on their way back home from the Guild, both of them still thinking about the announcement from Master two days ago.

That is until Natsu remembers something and he startles Happy out of his own thoughts, "Hey Happy, maybe Luce is finally back from her solo mission. Lets check her apartment! Maybe she even has some food for us and lets us sleep in her bed." Natsu grins goofy, the thought of food and Lucy's comfy bed changing his prior mood completely. "Aye, Sir!"

And so they turn around and practically run to Lucy's apartment.

Arriving there, they enter though her window like always. As Natsu realizes that Lucy is not there he turns around and wants to climb back out but stops as Happy calls him, "Natsu, Lucy has yummy food. I am hungry lets eat something before we go back!" Natsu being Natsu was at his side as soon as he heard the word 'food' and is already scarfing down said food. Happy quickly safes something for himself and starts to munch on his fish.

Both completely ignoring the fact that Lucy probably won't be very happy when she finds out that they, yet again, eating all of her food.

When they are finished they shortly ponder if they should sleep in her bed or go home. In the end they decide to leave since it's just not the same without Lucy there.

So they climb out through the window and leave an unpleasant surprise back behind for Lucy to find the next morning.


	4. Chapter 4

Lucy woke up completely refreshed, with a smile on her face and ready for the day. The reason being that Natsu didn't show up to interrupt her sleep. Lucy hums happily while getting ready in the bathroom, how she loves the mornings when Natsu didn't disturbed her sleep. And even better, no Natsu here to barge in on her showering cause he has hunger. Hoping that it will stay that way she takes her time in the shower and just relaxes. Finished with the shower she wraps herself in a towel and leaves the bathroom as she realizes that she had forgotten to bring a new set of clothes, these last days without her Team there had her slacking of in this department.

She pulls black shorts and a pink tube-top along with some black lingerie out of her closet, before dropping her towel and getting dressed. Next she wraps her hair in a towel and leaves for the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. Stepping in her kitchen her good mood immediately vanishes, what lays there in front of her left her utterly speechless and shaking with anger. She let out a rage filled scream before turning around, ripping the towel from her hair, slipping in her black boots and taking her belt with Keys and whip before leaving her apartment.

She has one goal in her mind, destroy Natsu and that annoying cat. Lucy is sure that they are the ones to blame. She stomps her way to the Guild, anger rolling in waves off of her, scaring most people away from her. It's almost the same as a few days ago but this time it's worse.

In her anger Lucy nearly kicks the doors out of the hinges, she stomps in the Guild and stops. Lucy looks around with fury written all over her face, shortly wondering why the Guild seems so different but then her eyes finds Natsu and all hell breaks loose.

Natsu was just chatting with Happy when he sniffs Lucy approaching, so he turns to greet her but then he hears her kicking the door in. Seeing her look around the Guild with a deadly glare sends chills down his spine, he has a feeling that her mood has something to do with him but he just can't remember what he did to make her this angry. _"Nah, it probably was that ice-princess that pissed her off."_ , he thinks and stands up to go to her but then her eyes meets his.

The Guild wachtes in utter horror as Lucy pounces on Natsu, kicking him with her Lucy-Kick in the face. He crashes in a wall and lays there slightly dazed but stands up none the less, big mistake on his part. "Oh come on Luce, why did you do that?", he mutters, even bigger mistake on his part. Lucy takes her whip out and let it crack on the floor in front of him, seeing completely red, ignoring the fact that the rest of the Guild hurries out of her way, none of them having seen her this angry before. That she takes out her anger through a Lucy-Kick here and there is normal, and also feared, but that she now has her whip in her hands can mean nothing good. All of them asking themselves what Natsu did this time.

After Lucy had cracked the whip on the floor she lets the end lay their and just looks at Natsu, looking him straight in the eyes. Her gaze frightens him to no end, he is so frightened that he didn't notice that her whip wriggles across the floor to his feet, there they slowly wrap around one leg. As he realizes that something his on his leg it's already to late, Lucy sends him with a flick of her wrist flying. He crashes in the same wall as before, nearly breaking the wall in the process.

Master hearing that something is going on down, comes out of his office to tell his brats to stop this nonsense before the Guild is in shambles once again. As soon as he leaves his office he feels the dark vibes from the Guild hall, curious about what could cause such a mood swing he goes to the balcony and looks down. There he sees one of the most frightening things, a blond haired demon is standing menacing in front of Natsu, who leans barely consciousness and bloody against a cracked wall. Makarov steps back and sprints back in his office where he shuts the door and mutters something about 'demon women all around him' and how 'his sweet Lucy turned to a combination of Erza and Mira'.

Down in the Guild hall Natsu gets the beating of his live, at least this is how it feels to him. Every time he makes attempts to stand up Lucy is on him again, be it with her whip or a new kick, and let him tell you that her kicks are so much harder than the other times. What makes it all the scarier to him is that Lucy hasn't said anything until now, just beating him up, letting all her anger and frustration out on him. The last thing he remember before finally passing out is being flung with the whip in Lucy's direction and her landing a very hard kick to his face.

Lucy sees that Natsu is out cold, huffs and turns around going to the bar. The whole Guild sighs in relieve, looking with pity at the Dragon Slayer on the floor. Lucy flops down on a bar stool and turns to Mira, asking her for a Strawberry-Shake. While Mira hurries away to make the Shake Lucy once again turns and looks over the Guild. She sees the damage she has done and is proud and ashamed of it at the same time. Her eyes linger at the damage and the body of Natsu before continuing her observing of her Guild members, something seems off.

Just as Mira comes back with her Shake, it hits her, she finally realizes whats different today in the Guild.

"Say Mira, why is everyone sitting so differently today? I mean Evergreen with Elfman, Levy and Gray? Or Erza with Cana and Jet? That just screams that something is wrong.", Lucy asked curiously while sipping on her Shake. "Oh right, you weren't there when Master made the announcement. Master got many complaints lately so he had the idea to make new Teams randomly and see if this maybe helps. I believe you are the only one who hasn't a new Team, you should go up to his office and ask him in which Team you are.", Lucy stares at her, mouth agape.

To shocked to say anything else Lucy quietly sips on her Shake, contemplating what this could mean for her. This could be her chance to work on a Team without Natsu who destroys everything in sight...

After she has finished her Shake she goes up to Masters office and knocks on his door, "Come in my child" "Hello Master, Mira told me to come to you because of the new Teams. And I still need to report to you about my last jobs, I assume that Erza told you everything she knew?", Lucy starts.

"Oh Lucy, good to have you back! And yes, we still need to find out which Team you will be on from now on. It would be nice when you tell me about what happened on your jobs, Erza didn't know anything about the real job.", Master smiles at her.

Lucy gave Master a short description of both her jobs, becoming once again furious when she recalled what happened on the job with her Team but calming down when she gets to the other job and the two older women she met there. Master now understands why the Mayor was so angry in his complaint and is very happy that Lucy finished the other job without getting any complaints, quite the opposite in fact, the Mayor send him a letter that if he had troubles again, he would ask for her.

"So Master, please tell me more about your plan. I am very curious how this will work and how you made the Teams. How long will we stay in these Teams?", Lucy's curiosity taking over.

"Lately I got a lot of complaints, be it from the client or from someone inside of a Team. Further I noticed that in some Teams the Team work wasn't exactly the best. I won't tell you who from the Guild complaint and I won't tell you which Teams I think did work always very good together. So one Night while sitting over all these paperwork you brats causes me I got the perfect idea. I thought what would happen when the Teams were different? At first I tried to make new Teams on my own but then I wanted to add some fun!" At this Master grins at her and Lucy can't stop to roll her eyes a little, this is just so typically Master. "Well and then I came up with the idea to make random Teams. I decided it would be best to have Teams with three to five mages. To accomplish this I made numbers, each one of you brats had to draw a number from a hat, from each number there were three to five copies. And like this we got all these new Teams!", he smiles brightly at her, very proud of his own idea.

Lucy gaps at him, not having thought that he really would make new Teams so randomly, I mean look at all the horrible possibilities there are.

"You still need to tell me how long these Teams will work together. And why are all of them here right now at not out on a job? I would have thought that Natsu would have dragged his new Team as soon as possible to a new job..."

"I haven't decided how long this experiment will continue. But a few weeks definitely. And there is no Team, but one, out on a job because I wanted all of the new Teams to get to know each other better before going to their first job. The only exception is Team 5 with Laxus, Bickslow and Gajeel. But this is because Laxus was called to an emergency job and his new Team of course needed to go with him. Oh and they all were supposed to stay here because you had no new Team. As soon as you will have a new Team I will let the Teams decide on a Team name too, can't always call them by a number can I? So let's begin and find you a new Team!"

Master jumps down from his chair and shuffles trough his office in search for the hat with the remaining numbers. After finding the hat he takes out a paper with all the new Teams on it.

Lucy carefully puts her hand in the hat, knowing that this little piece of paper would probably change everything for her. Letting a few slip trough her fingers she finally pulls her hand out again.

"Two.", Lucy reads out loud. "Alright, then from now on you will be in a Team with Wendy, Romeo, Lisanna and Natsu!", Master grins and just wanted to write her name down when Lucy says one word, "No." "No?" "No!" "What do you mean 'no' my child? You got this number, meaning that this will be you new Team." "No! I am sorry Master but I will not be in a Team with Natsu! You can say whatever you want but I will rather become a solo mage before joining a new Team with Natsu! This is my chance to see how it would be to work with someone aside from Natsu and I want this. I won't work together with him after what happened on the last job, I have enough of his behavior! So no, I will not be in Team two!", Lucy growls out. Master blinks up at her, not having thought that she really is so against a Team with Natsu. There must have been happened more than just this last job.

"But Lucy..." "Master...!", Lucy glares threateningly at him. And for a moment Master sees once again the combination of Erza and Mira standing before him, he feels a shiver run down his spine and wants nothing more than to hide from these piercing eyes.

"Alright, I guess it would be okay for you to try again. But the rest of the Guild isn't allowed to know about this..." At his answers Lucy is again all smiles and draws another piece of paper. "Five, oh that is the Team with Laxus, Bickslow and Gajeel right?" Master only nods at her while writing down her name besides the other three.

Lucy thought about her new Team, the only one she ever really spoke with was Gajeel and they are somewhat good friend because of Levy. Bickslow she knew a little as well, having talked with him on some occasions but never had the chance to really get to know him. Laxus she always wanted to get to know since he was reinstated in the Guild but never got the chance to do so.

She is somewhat scared to work with all these powerful mages and really hopes that they will accept her and won't treat her as some little girl who can't fight. On the other hand she is really excited about this, this will give her the chance to get to know all of them more and maybe become good friends with them.

"Master you told me that they are currently on a job, what should I do until they come back? Can I go on solo missions? As I woke up this morning to make myself breakfast I found my whole food gone with the trash left behind on the floor all over my kitchen. I assume that Natsu and Happy came into my apartment yesterday after I left to meditate and ate all of my food, that is why I attacked Natsu earlier. But now I have not money left to buy me anything else and wanted to go on a small job today anyways.", Lucy looks at Master pleadingly. There is no way that she can wait for the rest of her new Team to come back, their job is probably S-class and will take some time.

"I wanted to send you after your new Team. Since you are now on their Team too you should help with the job too. But fortunately I have a small job for you that you can do on your way there to get some money. You should leave now and follow them, they left just yesterday afternoon for this job. I will try to call Laxus to tell him about your arrival. Oh and please take this Lacrima with you, this is after all a S-class mission, that way you can call me if you run into trouble or Laxus when you are not able to find him.", Master smiles gently at her while giving her the Lacrima.

"Thanks Master, I will take my leave then!", Lucy smiles brightly and practically skips out of his office.

Master looks after a with an unreadable expression on his face. _"I really hope that they will accept her in their group and won't make her any troubles. I fear that Laxus and Gajeel could become just as bad as Natsu and Gray, hopefully not... And then add Bickslow to the mix with his constant pranks, this group could become even more destructive than the formal Team Natsu. Oh no, why didn't I think about that earlier, what have I gotten myself into with my idea?!"_ Masters face fell and he begins to panic, already seeing all the new complaints and bills with this new Team. He knows that Laxus was never one for much destruction while on jobs, he always had a good control over his magic, but in this Team that all could change. _"But maybe Lucy will surprise us all and keep this Team in check! I know that she had grown very much these last month after the GMG. So hopefully... But the question is, would Laxus really be scared of her, he isn't scared of Mira or Erza. I know that Bickslow and Gajeel fears her Lucy-Kick after receiving one or two, but will that be enough? All we can do is wait..."_

* * *

As Lucy walks down the stairs she sees that Natsu is up again, sitting with his new Team. She is really relived that Master allowed her to draw another number.

Still not in the mood to talk with Natsu, she goes up to Mira to tell her that she will leave.

"Hey Mira, I..." "Lucy! Tell me! What Team did you get?" "I am on a Team with Laxus, Bickslow and Gajeel and I...", Lucy tries once again. "Oh my! A Team with these three? You will spend so much time with these guys from now on. Look at all the possible babies... ", and once again Mira was on her way to Dreamland. "Well yeah, but there are no babies and there will be no babies! And Master sends me after them to do their job with them so I need to get going!", Lucy slowly backs away.

"What? You are on a Team with them?! I will speak with Master so that you can join my Team, don't worry Luce!", Natsu stands up. But his only answer is another Lucy-Kick, which immediately knocks him out again. Lucy glares one last time at him before leaving the Guild.

 _"What is it with him? Who does he think he is?_ _Practically demanding to go with me on a job, not doing anything at all on said job, raiding all of my food once again and then leaving all of his trash behind. And now he wants to just change my new Team_ _for me without even asking what I want? Does he think that I can't do something on my own, that he always has to be with me? Or does he think that I am to weak to be on their Team? No... Natsu wouldn't think something like that. He just doesn't think about his own words and actions. But that doesn't change the fact, that the way he act hurt!"_

Lucy hurries to her home, to pack a new bag. Arriving at home she is remembered of the mess Natsu and Happy left for her to find behind. So she has no other choice but to clean up first.

Just as she starts, Virgo pops out and instantly begins to clean her kitchen. Lucy protests, not wanting her Spirit to do something like this. "Princess, you should pack your bag for your new job. The train leaves in a half hour. And I have nothing against doing this. Will you punish me for doing this against your wishes, Princess?", Virgo tells her while cleaning everything up way faster than Lucy could have done it.

"No of course not, I will never punish you Virgo! But thanks for your help, can you take my bag with you to store it?", Lucy asks while hastily packing her bag. Virgo just nods as an answer and Lucy smiles lovingly at her Spirit.

As she had finished packing Lucy leaves her bag behind for Virgo, who is still not finished with the whole mess from Natsu and Happy, and sprints to the train station. There she quickly buys a ticket before jumping on the train, just before the train departs.

* * *

A few stations later she leaves the train to finish the little mission she got from Master. It was just a little mission to scare of some kids, to stop with their vandalism. Just as she arrives at the shop of her client she spots a group of kids who throws rocks at the window and then wanted to run away. But Lucy on one side and Taurus on the other was enough to stop them from doing so.

While Taurus watches that they won't escape Lucy enters the shop to search for her clients. They came out to speak with the kids and a little warning from a big bull who swings an ax was enough to scare them enough so they won't do it again.

The shop owners happily give Lucy her reward, 25.000J and some of the sweets they sell. Lucy buys herself some lunch and just one hour after arriving in this town, she again sits in the train to her next destination: Gentiana, a city near some mountains with a deep forest surrounding most of the town, the city where she will have her first mission with her new Team, a S-class mission none the less.

Lucy really hopes that everything will work out and that she will be able to help her new Team mates, with that thought in mind Lucy settles down for the remaining four hours.


	5. Chapter 5

So since I don't know if all of you read my other story "Love wins", I need to tell you that my exams start soon and I will have less time to write and update.

This is kind of an extra long Chapter. Normally it would have been even longer but I split it up to make two out of it. Maybe the other Chapter will come soon since its almost finished and I, mostly likely you too, finally want to reach the point where she meets her new Team (next Chapter).

Have fun reading and tell me what you think.

* * *

Lucy arrives around late afternoon in Gentiana, there she realizes that Master never told her what this job is about, only the city. She takes out the Lacrima, which she had in a small extra bag with some other necessities, and tries to call Laxus but to no avail. Lucy starts to wander aimlessly through town and tries to call Laxus several times more. In the end she calls Master to ask him for some information on the hob and if he is able to reach Laxus.

The only thing Master could say her was that the city is under attack from a horde of different monsters and the name of the Mayor who send the request. He too can't reach Laxus, so Laxus doesn't know that Lucy is coming. Master advises her to go to the Mayor to get some information about the job and maybe some clues where Laxus and the others could be.

And that is exactly what she does, Lucy searches for the house from the Mayor in hopes to speak with him.

The Mayor is a nice man with dark brown hair and striking green eyes, he couldn't be much older than Lucy herself, what greatly confuses her. But it turns out that the former Mayor, his father, died in one of the attacks and now he had to become the new Mayor much earlier than anyone would have thought.

Lucy being the smart girl she is, asks as many questions as possible and little by little gets a feeling that there is something more going on than just monsters attacking the town. It's just to suspicious that so many different kinds of monster would attack together when they normally would attack one another, there has to be another force behind all of this. He furthermore told her that there were some people seen in the forest but they thought these people were just some travelers, after all often enough people travel through the town to climb the mountain.

He told her that guys from her Guild didn't ask so many questions and just wanted to know which and how many monsters attack and where they do this. And that they left after talking with him to begin their job, even though it was already late.

After talking this long he offered Lucy to have dinner with him and for her to stay the Night in his house since he didn't want her to roam through the forest at Night alone with all these Monster. Lucy takes this offer since she knows that it's never a good idea to run alone at Night through an unknown forest with so many monsters in it.

"Excuse me Sir, but do you perhaps have a garden where I can meditate after out dinner? I need a quite and calm place, where I am able to completely concentrate on my meditation.", Lucy asks the Mayor. "Yes, I do have a garden you can use. And please, Lucy, call me by my name, we are after all around the same age.", he smiles at her.

"If that is what you want I will call you by your name from now on. Thank you very much, Mace!", she smiles brightly back at him.

After that they just have some small talk until they have finished dinner. Mace shows Lucy her room for the night and afterwards he brings her to the garden so that she can meditate.

Seeing that it's already quite dark outside, Lucy decides to start her meditation immediately.

Like the other times she calls out Capricorn to help her.

"Good evening, Miss Lucy. Another meditation session I assume?", Capricorn bows before her. "Yes, I but I can't exhaust myself to much during training since I'm on a S-class mission right now.", she answers him. "S-class mission? Where is your Team?"

"Oh, right I forgot to tell you. To sum it up, Master made new Teams and I am now on a Team with Laxus, Bickslow and Gajeel. Laxus was called to an emergency S-class job before I got back and Master send me after them to help since I am on their Team now. Right now I don't know where they are, they already started with the job since they arrived yesterday. But I couldn't reach Laxus through is Lacrima and so I will stay the night at the Mayors home and then try again tomorrow or start to search for them. Oh and please could you tell the others about this too when you get back to the Spirit World? I don't want to explain this to everyone again and again.", Lucy explains.

"Alright, I will do so. Hmm... S-class... We could try... Hmm... Normally I wouldn't try it this early... But we could try it out, this method seem to be easy enough for her so maybe this could work. We could at least try it, if she can accomplish it, it would help her greatly in a S-class mission... And if it doesn't work, it will still be like a normal meditation...", Capricorn mumbles to himself while walking back and forth in front of her.

"Uhm... Capricorn?", Lucy looks confused up at him. She already had settled down on the ground and was waiting for instructions when she looked up to see him like that.

"Oh yes right, my apologize Miss Lucy. I was just thinking about the meditation for today. There is a next step in the new method I was teaching you. Normally it is too early to try it out but seeing as you were able to work with this method rather good and are much farther than any other person in this short amount of time I say we try it. And if you aren't able to do it, you have still meditated so nothing to lose. This next stepp will help you with fighting on your own. Normally you connect with all the stars, but now I want you to try and connect with a single constellation. If you are able to truly connect with this constellation and the Spirit approves then you are able to build a permanent link with this constellation. You will get a tattoo somewhere on your body looking like the constellation you have the link with. Through this link you will be able to use some of the magic or a special skill from the respective constellation on your own. Since you connect with the constellation and not the Spirit himself, you can even build up links with constellations you don't have the belonging Key for. This of course will be harder since you need to build up enough trust before the Spirit will approve but it is possible.", Capricorn explains to Lucy, now standing in front of her.

"Wow! I have never heard of something like this before! I assume this is some sort of Caster Magic for Celestial Mages? And I guess with most Celestial Mages treating their Spirits like tools they stopped using this and then the Spirits stopped telling their new Key-holders about this, right? But this is really cool! And even being able to connect with constellations I don't have the Key for, just wow... Is there a specific constellation you would advise me to start with?", Lucy looks up at him with sparkling eyes. She couldn't wait any longer to try this out. Feeling more connected with the stars since they started with the other method felt wonderful. And she can only guess how amazing it would feel to have a direct link with the stars or more specific constellations.

"Yes you are right Miss Lucy. Mages stooped using this and because of the way we were treated we stopped informing our Masters about this possibility. You are the first Celestial Mage in a long time who we are teaching this. Normally I would advise to start with a constellation from a Silver Key because this is a little easier. But since you are on a S-class mission, I say we should try it out with a constellation from a Gold Key. After all most times they are stronger in a real fight. And for the start I would suggest to try with either Leo or Aquarius. With Leo you have a special bond because you saved him and with Aquarius you too have a special bond, because you have her Key the longest. But I think Leo is the better choice since you will probably be able to use Regulus with the link and with Aquarius Water Magic and I believe that it is easier to use Regulus. Water Magic is really hard to control and you don't have the needed time to train with it.", he advises her.

"Alright, then lets start! I can't wait to see if I am able to do this!", Lucy is practically bouncing in excitement.

In the beginning Capricorn instructs her to do just like the last two nights. Lucy once again reaches out and connects with the stars above her.

When Capricorn feels that she is connected with the stars he changes his instructions, "Now, Miss Lucy, I want you to search the constellation of Leo. Search with your magic, try to feel the power of Leo. And when you have found the constellation try to connect even more with these stars then you already are. Try to ignore all the other stars and just concentrate on the Leo constellation. When you have your sole focus on this constellation, try to become one with the stars. Feel their power, the power they can offer you when they or their Spirit approves of you. When you think that you are truly connected with the constellation and can feel the magic, begin to pull this specific magic inside of you. This should feel different because you are transferring a specific type of magic into yourself. You need to pull a great amount of this magic inside of you to be able to completely set up the link between yourself and the constellation. Normally it can take several meditation sessions to pull enough magic into yourself so don't be sad if you aren't able set up the link. But with how much magic you were able to pull into yourself the last two sessions, I believe that you are able to do it!", he instructs and encourages her.

Like the other days Lucy pulls the magic from the stars inside of her and Capricorn was right, this somehow feel different. It feels somewhat brighter but a same time wild and feral. Bright because of the Regulus Magic she probably gains, wild and feral like the lion this constellation represents. And Lucy loves this feeling! She can feel how more and more of this magic is flowing inside of her, filling every part of her body but still that more is concentration on a relatively small spot on her right breast.

Lucy feels the exhaustion of doing this task and knows that normally she wouldn't be able to hold this much longer but she is determined to complete this link.

If Lucy was able to see what is happening around her she would be able to see Capricorn proud and astonished face. She would be able to see the golden glow on her right breast where she is feeling the most concentration and when looking closely, that on this spot a small golden tattoo appeared. Just like Capricorn said it looks like the Leo constellation with all the significant stars in gold, which are now that she is still connected with the constellation glowing. The more magic she is pulling inside of her the more visible is the tattoo, but still not to showy because of the golden color.

Lucy wasn't sure when she would have pulled enough of this magic inside of her to complete the link. Would the connection just stop? Or would Capricorn tell her? She really hoped that this would be finished soon, because, as much as she loves this feeling and the connection, she knows that can't hold this much longer. If this would have been a normal meditation session she probably would have already stopped, but not now, bot when she is doing something like this, she want's to do this so much!

A few more minutes tick by and Lucy was just about to give up and stop the connection and meditation before she would lose consciousness when she felt it. The magic she was still pulling inside of her felt different, more like it belonged there as if she could grab and use this magic when ever she wanted without meditation. And she knew this had to be the completed link, the constellation and Loke had completely accepted her and she was able to accomplish this task, it felt so great!

Capricorn too felt that the link is completed and once again smiles proudly at her while instructing her to stop the meditation slowly.

After Lucy regained enough breath she opens her eyes and grins happily up at Capricorn who smiles back at her. "I did it! I really did it! Oh this is so wonderful! I can't believe I really was able to do this! Can I try it out? Can I see what power I got? Oh pretty please!", she pleads. "Even if I wanted to I couldn't deny you this request, Miss Lucy. I suggest that I will go back and send Leo here, so that you won't need to call him after exhausting yourself this much, and then he can train a bit with you and see what ability you really got in the end.", Capricorn states. Lucy jumps up and hugs him while thanking him.

After that Capricorn steps back, bows and then disappears and shortly after that Loke appears with a big grin on his face, completely dropping his normal greeting.

"Woah, Lucy do you even really realize what you did just now? Never before was someone able to establish a link like that in just one meditation, and more so with a Gold Key in your first try! You are so amazing! And I know you want to try this out now and we will but please take into consideration that you exhausted yourself just right now so we probably won't be able to train a lot. So lets see what ability you got, it is different for every Mage. But the most possible ability is my Regulus Magic and when you have a really strong connection you maybe have some of the instincts of he Lion when you use this magic or link. Oh, and look at this beautiful mark at this wonderful place, it looks stunning on you my Princess!", he just had to add something like this at the end while smirking and gazing down at his tattoo on her, all the while still holding her in his arms. Lucy follows his gaze and stares amazed at the beautiful golden tattoo until she realizes where exactly it is and that this means that Loke is staring at her breast like the pervy lion he is. Instantly she breaks the big hug und steps a few steps back, forgoing the Lucy-Kick she would have normally given him due to her exhaustion and that he technically was just looking at the tattoo. Ha who is she kidding...

"What should I do? How do I access this magic?", Lucy jumps eagerly in her place after remembering why she has this tattoo,

"It is a bit similar to using your Keys but instead of sending your magic to them you send your magic to this tattoo. With that you will activate to link to my constellation and are able to use whatever ability you got. As long as you channel your magic in the tattoo you will be able to use the ability, just like we Spirits will stay here as long as you provide us with magic. So you could say it's like directly opening a Gate to the constellation and not for the Spirit. While using this, the constellation will provide you with magic. Compared with a Spirit it's like holding a Gate open but the Spirit is using his own magic. So you, lets say, hold open the link and are using the magic from the constellation, this of course makes it less draining for you. But please never underestimate the drain of your magic with this. You can still call out Spirits while using this, but it's like multiple summoning like you probably can guess.", he explains to her.

"Alright, then lets start!", Lucy goes one more time over his instructions and then reaches out to her magic. She tries to send the magic to the tattoo on her breast but at first the magic always wants to go to her hand, the normal way, but after a few attempts she finally pushes the magic to the tattoo and feels the link activating.

Lucy feels that the same magic she was pulling earlier into herself was now flowing to her on its own. Reaching her the magic manifests itself inside of her like a glowing globe, waiting to be directed to the wanted place and used. Along with this, she had this sudden urge to hunt, but to protect and dominate too. Hunting she can understand but to dominate and protect? The male lions are the dominate ones and the ones who protect their pack but maybe she had this urge because Loke is after all male and she is linked to his constellation.

Opening her eyes - when did she close them?- they lock with Loke's and she sees him gap at her. "Is something wrong?", she asks a little scared that she did something wrong.

"Not wrong but unsuspected. Never before have I seen that this changes the eye-color of a Mage. Your ey...", he begins but Lucy interrupts him, "Wait, what? I have a different eye-color? And that never happened before? Is that something bad? Did I do something wrong? Are these other things also not normal, like...". Now Loke is the one who interrupts her, "Lucy... Lucy! Calm down! First tell me what do you mean with other things? And tell me what in generell do you feel please so that I am able to estimate what ability you got from this link."

Like Loke asked her to do, Lucy calm down, she takes a few deep breaths. During this time she goes into herself to assess what all has changed and if there is something she hadn't noticed before.

"Well I have this urge to hunt along with the feeling to protect, but ironically dominate too. Do you feel this too? Oh and then I can feel that the magic from the link inside of me. It feels similar to my own magic, like a vessel from where I can take this magic but more like what your Regulus feels. I thinks that is everything.", she lists.

"Wow! I can tell you that you definitely did nothing wrong, more like the opposite. You were able to build such a strong bond with my constellation that you not only got my Regulus Magic but also some of the characteristics from my constellation, meaning some lion characteristics. And yes I have these feelings too, but more in protecting and dominating direction and not so much hunting. Like you know, male lions do hunt but this is still more a female characteristic you got on your own. But I guess that you got some of my characteristics too. Why do you think I pop out this often, this is my inner urge to protect you and some of the other Mages I see as my pack. And well yeah, the urge to dominate... It's hard to live with that one sometimes, especially with your touchy Guild mates, like Natsu for example. I try to hold back, but everything inside of me sometimes screams to dominate the ones around you to protect you, especially with Dragon Slayers this his hard. We lions normally don't have many males in our pack, so sometimes it's hard to accept more males around you or be around many males in general. Oh and your eyes changes to a golden orange.", he explains.

Lucy just gaps at him. She always thought that he comes out this often because of his flirty and pervy side, never would she have guessed that this is because of his lion instincts. And hard to be around to many males? How come she never noticed? Well okay, mostly there is just Natsu and Gray, she believes that around three males is normal for a lion pack, so this should be okay for him. And she knows that he and Gray have a good friendship but Natsu... Now that she thinks about it she has sometimes noticed the glare he send him but always thought that he was annoyed by him and not that he had to control his urge to try and dominate Natsu. But well, Dragons and Lions are both predators so maybe this has something to do with it. And if this really is the case she hopes that her new Team with two Dragon Slayers will be okay for him. And what will happen to her when she uses this magic?

"Oh, I never knew... Why did you never tell me about this? If this was this bad with Natsu how bad will it be with my new Team? You know that I'm in a Team now with three male, two of them being Dragon Slayers? And what will happen to me when I use the link while being around them? Will this even go away when I stop pushing my magic into the link? Or could it be that my link is so strong that this will stay? Oh, I just now remember! I need to see my eyes! And...", Lucy could probably go on and on like that, but Loke stops her with holding up his hand and vanishing back to the Spirit World only to pop out seconds later again with a mirror in his hand.

"Thanks Lo... Oh wow!", Lucy breathes out as she sees her eyes. She stares completely mesmerized at them in the mirror, all prior thoughts completely halting with her focus on her golden orange eyes. That is until she hears something and her hunt instinct pushes to the forefront of her mind, her head snaps up and her eyes searches for the source of this noise.

Her new instincts completely taking over as she drops the mirror and slowly stalks in the direction her instincts told her the prey is. Nearing the bushes the noise is coming from she, again out of instinct, directs the magic to her hand where they light up with Regulus. But instead of Loke's normal golden color her Regulus is dark, what she of course doesn't notice with her focus on the hunt.

Loke only looks amused at her, curious waiting for her next step. But when he sees that her Regulus is dark he gaps at her and let out a whispered "Wow". But apparently Lucy heard him and her head spins in his direction, her new focus now laying on him. Snapping out of his awe, Loke calls out to her to snap her out of her new instincts, never would he have guessed that her gained instincts would be this strong.

Lucy shakes her head at hearing his voice and looks embarrassed at him, "Uh... I'm sorry Loke. This new instincts took over and I didn't even really realize it. When it's always like this for you, I really don't know how you live with this. Uh and now that I think about it, did I just use Regulus? And was it really dark?"

"Don't worry, you just need to become acquainted with these new instincts. Oh and I just remember you other question from earlier, I don't know if these instincts will go away when you stop the link or if they will stay, or maybe they will stay but not this strong. We can only wait to find out. The same with your eyes, we just need to wait and find out if they will turn back after stopping the magic. And well yeah, you could say it is like this for me but I have many years of training and are now able to mostly suppress these instincts. But sometimes they are very helpful. I guess you have noticed that your senses didn't increase but your instinct was leading you? And yes, this was Regulus you just used now and yes it was dark. Yet another sign for your strong bond. If I had to guess, I would say that you Regulus is dark at night and golden like mine at day. This has something to do with concealing against being seen on a hunt. If I wanted to I could to it too, but in a normal fight there is no need to conceal my presence and the golden Regulus is the normal form. This all just means that your instincts are really strong now, you not only called Regulus on instinct to fight in your hunt, but you even called the dark form because of the night. This is really impressing, Lucy! The bond you have with your Spirits and now the stars is very strong, never before had a Celestial Mage a bond this strong!", Loke smiles at her and pats her head.

Lucy gives him a happy grin and then concentrates on her magic, trying to get Regulus to her hand again on her own will and not on instinct.

She reaches into herself and grabs this new magic inside of her, while still sending a constant stream of magic to the tattoo, and then tries this magic to her hands. It seems that the magic exactly knows what she wants since it instantly flows to the wanted place and her hands begin to glow with Dark Regulus Magic.

"Very good, we should stop soon but try to attack me with it, the more magic you send to your hands the stronger Regulus will be.", Loke says to her, getting ready for an attack.

Lucy turns to him and attacks. Thanks to her training in combat she was able to really hit him and it seems the Regulus enhances her hits. And like in any normal fight, and since this is much more her style, she kicks him and on instincts sends the Regulus Magic to her foot, catching Loke of guard and send him flying.

For a moment she just stares in wonder at her own leg, which is still in the air from the Kick, and then she begins to grin and excitedly jumping in her place.

Loke picks himself up and grins at seeing how happy she is, but he to notices her exhaustion and so tells her to stop her own magic to stop the link.

Just like with her Keys, Lucy stops the magic flow and feels the extra magic inside of her vanishing. Looking to Loke he once again gaps, seems that this is his thing today...

"Your eyes... They are brown again but a little brighter with some golden orange specks in them. It seems like they will stay like this. How are you feeling? Are the instincts completely gone?" "Hmm... Not that you say it, no they are not completely gone. But they have lessened. I wonder what exactly this means, well I guess we can only wait to find out, can we?", she answers him with a thoughtful expression.

"Yeah, only thing we can do it wait. You will probably have something like better instincts in generell, but I don't think that your personality or behavior will change considerably because of that.", Loke reassures her. "I really can't wait to find out, but I probably should go to bed now and rest to be refreshed for tomorrow!"

Loke escorts her to her room for the Night before wishing her a good night and then going back to the Spirit World.

Lucy gets quickly ready for bed and is fast asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow.


	6. Chapter 6

So I really hope that I am able to write these lion instincts somewhat properly. Originally I never planned them or even thought about something like them but while writing the last Chapter this somehow has ended up standing there and now I really like the idea of all the possibilities there are... So much possibilities...

* * *

After several attempts at calling Laxus, not once reaching him, and then speaking with Master Lucy sets out to search for them in the forest.

She should have thought about to ask Master for something from Laxus so her hunting dogs could have tracked them but now this is not possible. And Aquila is not fitted for the job, because of the dense vegetation, he would not be able to see anything on the ground while flying and with this many trees he too can't properly fly in the forest.

So Lucy sets out on her own, going in the direction Mace said he send them. On occasion she would send out her magic, similar to meditating, and search for the Mages with her senses, but so far without any luck.

She walked for several hours, finding nothing. Not even Monsters crossed her path even though there should have been many of them. This was just another clue for her that something else was going on.

Around noon she stopped to eat a little lunch and called out Loke to not be alone and to speak with him about her new instincts, or lack of them at the moment.

Loke explained to her that they probably didn't told her anything since right now there was nothing to hunt, protect or dominate and because they are lessened after all. But he was sure that they would show themselves when something is happening.

Like so many times already she tried to call Laxus, and slowly she really begins to worry that something had happened when he still didn't answer her or Master.

She settles down to meditate, or rather to send out her magic with a bigger radius to increase her chance of finding anything. And there nearly out of her reach she finally felt other magical presences. But these presences didn't felt like anyone she knew, no they had a dark feeling to themselves, further proving that her theory that something else is going on is right.

Lucy decides to look at it and maybe this will help her to find out where her new Team is.

Walking for another half hour she reaches a big clearing near the mountains, she searches for a place to hide and observes what exactly is happening there. There are tents everywhere and around twenty men, all of them with magic, some more than others.

Lucy steps back a little, knowing that she alone can't beat all of them at the same time. She calls out Argos and Theron so they could maybe hear something of what they are speaking and laughing about since she has a feeling that it is important. They report back to her that these Dark Mages belong to a small, new Dark Guild, called Monster Tamer. Furthermore they tell her that the Guild is named after the Master whose magic can completely control Monsters, what would explain the strange behavior of the Monsters from what Lucy heard. And they are laughing about the three Fairy Tail Mages who still haven't noticed that they are here and are still fighting against all these Monsters their Master constantly sends to them. The last they could tell her was that they were getting ready to attack the Fairy Tail Mages the next day along with a new horde of Monsters.

That means that her new Team was out there, probably constantly fighting against Monsters, for over a day already. And now the Dark wants to attack them too. Lucy knows that they are all strong Mages but this will probably be to much even for them after fighting this long already, they should be exhausted.

And Lucy can only sigh at their stupidity. How comes that none of them had gone back to town to maybe ask more questions? They should have realized until now that something must be wrong there or not? Or are they just raw power? But Laxus is after all a S-class Mage, maybe Freed was the one who asked the questions. Whatever the reason is, she had to help them.

She send her dogs back and called Gemini, asking them to try and copy the Master, hoping that he isn't much stronger than she herself magically, of this Guild so she could learn more about his magic, and maybe the location of her new Team.

Lucy waited for several minutes before the twins were back, luckily they were able to copy him. This really surprised Lucy, since she thought that with his magic he would have a large amount of magic what would have make it impossible for her Spirits. But it seems that she still underestimates her own magic and had overestimated his amount of magic.

Yes, he does have a large amount but his kind of controlling doesn't use as much as she thought it would. He only needs to use his magic once on every Monster, he plants his own will in their minds and from then on this is their only goal. The only way to break this sort of control is to either defeat the Mage or with some sort of Alpha-Monster, a Monster that is big and scary enough to dominate them. And as soon as this Alpha-Monster, whether it is the same kind of Monster or not, dominates them they are free from the control, what causes them to return back to their normal characteristics or if the Alpha is strong enough, it can tell them to leave or they even just run away from the Alpha.

Another thing they told her was the last 'order' the Dark Mage gave the Monsters. It being to only attack these three Mages, what if they really followed this order was perfect for Lucy. She would of course test if they would attack her but if not she could just walk up to her new Team without using her magic, so she had enough to properly help them.

And Lucy now knows the perfect way to help the guys.

Gemini shows her the right direction and Lucy is on her way, further going in the direction of the mountains.

The nearer she gets to the location the more Monsters are there and her instincts kick in. And as ready as she was for any attack from the Monster, they really didn't attack her. The only thing she needed to do was to follow them and they would bring her directly to the guys.

Ten minutes later she reached the base of the mountain and a big clearing with many hurt and dead bodies of different kind of Monsters. And there directly standing at the base in a half circle where the guys, who haven't noticed her so far.

Lucy hide behind a tree and observed the scene before her, not wanting to be hit by mistake. While hiding, she already feels her instinct to protect more prominent but still controllable. She observed everything, looking for a save way to reach them, when she noticed a Wyvern coming, unnoticed, from the mountain behind the three Mages and that when her instincts go haywire.

Without really thinking Lucy calls out Sagittarius to shot at them and practically simultaneous jumping out of her hideout to warn them while already sprinting in their direction.

But instead of listening to her they all freeze up and gap at her, what of course is logically since they didn't know she was there but at the moment wasn't the best choice to do.

Sagittarius fires multiple arrows at the Wyvern hitting it but that didn't stop it from flying further in its prior direction. The direction being Laxus, Laxus who stood there frozen and still haven't really noticed the, now almost dead, Wyvern which is about to land on top of him. And of course the other Monsters didn't stop their attack, so now Sagittarius is firing his arrows in fast succession at every Monster which is nearing them.

All this happened in just mere seconds, but Laxus and the other two were still not moving and the Wyvern was about to land on Laxus. On instinct Lucy activated her link to the Leo constellation. As soon as the magic fills her, her instinct to protect roars to live. Instinctively she sends Regulus Magic to her feet, which somehow increases her speed, and sprints further in Laxus direction. Luckily her hideout wasn't to far away and she reaches Laxus just in time, she practically jumps him, which causes him to stumble back before falling to the ground with her on top him and the Wyvern landing not a second later at the place he previously stood.

The crash with the ground woke him out of his stupor, even though he was still gaping at Lucy, who was now on top of him. He blinks a few times up at her, with her regaining her breath after sprinting to him and then jumping him, to get him out of the way in time. Next his gaze wanders back and forth between Lucy and the almost dead Wyvern which was about to get back on its feet. And finally he comes completely to his senses and sends a bolt of lightning at the Wyvern to kill it, while he still lays on the ground.

Verifying that the Wyvern really is dead he looks back to Lucy, still confused why she is there, and still not realizing their position. "Blondie?", hearing her name Lucy's head snaps back, already observing their surroundings again on instinct, in his direction and locks eyes with him.

And this is the moment Laxus realizes that she has a different eye-color and from the corner of his eyes he can see something glowing on her breast. It's not like he really knows how her eyes normally look, since they haven't really spent time with each other, but he is sure that her eyes are normally not this golden orange. The meeting of their eyes didn't last for very long, Lucy again observing their surroundings for any danger, but this short moment left Laxus mesmerized with her eyes.

Hearing his new Team mates call out to him he snaps out of his daze and looks away from Lucy to see what they want. He finally notices that he lays on the ground with the voluptuous and curvy blonde on top of him, straddling him. And he notices that his hands lay on her hips, no not lay, grabbing them and he immediately pulls them away. This is not the right moment for any of this.

"Blondie?", he tries again while straightening up as much as possible with her now in his lap. It looks like she doesn't notice anything of this, with her still focused on their surroundings.

So having no other choice when he doesn't want to throw her from his lap, he wraps one arm around her while using the other support him to stand up. When he stands he releases his hold on her and steps back, trying again to talk with her, "Blondie? What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here! And what is with your eyes? And why is there something glowing on your chest?" But again he gets no answer, instead her head turns into another direction. A direction from where a Monster is attacking them now that they can see Laxus again, her shielding their sight of him before stopped their attacks on them. And the only reason she was still at his side was because her instincts told her that in that moment he was the one who needed the most protection, but now that he is completely out of his daze she can leave his side again and fight.

Her Monster hunt begins, Monsters who threatened the ones under her protection.

A Vulcan is coming in their direction and she immediately attacks, her new instincts letting her no other choice, since she can't really control them at the moment. Regulus lightens her hands and feet up while she sprints at the Vulcan, jumping up shortly before meeting him she delivers a Regulus increased Lucy-Kick, knocking the Monster down. After that she immediately turns to the next Monster coming their direction.

Laxus behind can only stare at her, knocking out a Vulcan with one hit? Since when can she do something like that? He knows she wasn't really weak but this strong? No way! Maybe just the heat of the moment? And what is with this light around her hands and feet?

Lucy barrels across the clearing, hitting and kicking this and that Monster in her instinct to protect her Guild mates. Even in the state she currently is in, she had noticed their exhaustion, even though they still continue to fight to the best of their abilities. Sagittarius is still firing arrow after arrow and then Lucy sees the little stream and an idea pops out to give them some time so she could tell them her plan.

"Aquarius!" Seeing the dire situation, she rises her urn and sends her Water Torrent out, washing the Monsters way. And for once Lucy, or her new Team mates, not along with them. Loke told her about the new link she has with his constellation and she immediately felt that Lucy had activated the link and was in no way in the mood or condition to be washed away too. And without even insulting her one time, Aquarius vanishes back to the Spirit World after a grateful smile from Lucy.

Now that the Monsters are dealt with, for the moment at least, her protecting instinct calms down and Lucy is able to think clearly again. She sends Sagittarius back and deactivates the link.

Lucy turns around to speak with her new Team mates, what they still don't know yet, and sees them all once again gaping at her. She really has the feeling that this is the most reaction she got these last days...

She ignores their gazes and approaches them, "Hey, guys! Sorry for that just now Laxus...", she smiles up at them and then blushes when she remembers that she layed on top of him and then sat in his lap. These stupid instincts!

"Bunny Girl? What are you doing here? And what was this just now?" "Cosplayer, what a nice surprise to see you out here.", Bickslow lolls his tongue out, showing his Guild mark. "Blondie, I see you stopped ignoring us?", Laxus raises an eyebrow.

Lucy shifts a bit uncomfortable from their gazes in her place but then straightens up to answer them, remembering that they probably don't have much time before the Monster come back again.

"In short, I'm your new Team mate and Master send me after you to help on this job. But we couldn't reach you so I searched you the whole day and found the Dark Mages who are responsible for this. By the way, did none of you even think about the possibility that something is wrong here? Never would all these Monsters attack you or the city together. All other questions have to wait for later because I believe that soon the Monsters will be back and I have a plan to stop their attacks all at once."

"You are right, we can discuss everything later, the Monsters are coming back. I can hear them. For now we will just need to believe you, even though I have my doubts... But tell us, what is your plan?", Laxus speaks up after they all just stare at her, not knowing what to do with this information.

"Well, Gemini copied the Mage who is responsible for the Monster attacks and told me what ways there are to break his control on them. One being of course to defeat him, but with you all exhausted, no don't deny it, him being the Guild Master of a Dark Guild with about twenty Mages and the Monsters coming again, this is not an option right now. The other one is an Alpha-Monster. A Monster that is so strong and terrifying that it's able to dominate these Monster. This would break his control and the would start to act normal again, meaning attacking each other and not only you or running away from the Alpha, not wanting to be killed by it.", she explains to them.

"That sounds good and all but, Blondie, if you haven't noticed, your second option is not an really option for us too. There is no Alpha-Monster, and even if there was, don't you think that would attack us too for being in his territory? Or do you want us to try and be the Alpha-Monster? I know that is probably something Natsu would try but I really thought you are smarter than him, it seems I was wrong...", Laxus looks down at the blonde girl, thinking she lost her brain or something like this. Wasn't she the smart one on Team Natsu?

Lucy angrily glares up at him, eyes flashing back to golden orange for a moment. And just for a moment she has this urge to try and dominate Laxus as her anger flares up. "Yeah, that probably would be something that stupid Ash-Brain would try and no, I don't want you to try and be the Alpha. I will...", before she could tell them that she would call her new Spirit, she is interrupted by Laxus, "You?! You will be the Alpha? Don't make me laugh, Blondie! You may be not too weak and that fight you just showed was pretty impressive, but there is no way that you can be an Alpha-Monster. You are just too small and kind to be a Monster! And an Alpha even less!" Laxus laughs, he really laughs at her, after he wouldn't even let her finish her sentence.

The nerves of this guy! Her anger spikes up again, along with her eyes flashing back to golden orange and her tattoo starting to glow. And in the next moment she already pounces on him, completely taking him by surprise. They go down again, but this time the whole scene is different. Lucy doesn't want to protect him, no she wants to and will dominate him! She pins him down with her knees on both of his sides on top of Laxus hands and arms, while she is sitting on his lower abdomen. Her left hand, which glows with Regulus what gives her for now enough strength, is on his throat with her thumb on his jawbone, pushing his head down to the ground to hold him there. Her right hand is on her Keys, ready to summon any of them. Looking him dead in the eyes, she increases the pressure on her left hand and slowly turns his head to bare his neck for her as a sign of submission.

As soon as she begins to turn his head, Laxus comes out of his stupor and fights against it. But this only leads to Lucy gripping him tighter and sending more magic to her left hand. She is slowly able to turn is head, baring more and more of his neck for her.

Laxus doesn't like this at all, normally he is the one to dominate, not to be dominated. Who does she think she is?! He tries to use his hands but Lucy has them pinned down, and her current anger and the Regulus Magic, which is pulsing through her, gives her enough strength to stop him from freeing his arms. Realizing that he truly is pinned down, he begins to growl, his own instincts kicking in. He will not let this little girl dominate him!

But Lucy growls right back and tightens her grip on his throat before growling out through clenched teeth, "You will listen to me and you will listen carefully! I won't let you look down on me! My old Team did that enough already. And maybe, just maybe you should have let me finish before making assumptions and laughing at me. Do you understand?!"

Still in their prior place, but tuned to watch the scene unfold, Bickslow and Gajeel can only gap once again. What's gotten into her to do something like this? And with Laxus of all people! Everyone knows that he won't accept something like that. Both aren't so sure if it would be wise to step in, and if they do, who should they help? Laxus who is currently pinned down with his neck almost completely bared for her. Or Lucy, who will probably not live after trying to dominate Laxus. And she was right after all, he really did interrupt her and then laughed at her. It seems that his old Asshole-self has come through in that moment, maybe because of the exhaustion?

Laxus is still fighting her but Lucy wasn't having any of it, with him still not wanting to listen and revolting against her hold, she takes Loke's Key and presses the Key against his throat in warning. Then she leans down to him and hisses in his ear, "Quit your fighting! And I would advise you to listen now and just bear with this, otherwise it wouldn't do you any good!" She comes back up and looms over him, her eyes narrows as he still struggles against her hold and domination.

A little part in Lucy, the part which wasn't currently controlled by her own instincts, knew that she should stop this and try to speak in a normal way with him, like she would have done before. But the much bigger part wouldn't let this happen, this part needed his submission right now and wouldn't give up until she fully dominates him in this situation.

And with new found vigor she turns his head completely to the side, his neck now completely bared to her. And even though she felt that Laxus was still struggling she also felt that it lessen. She leans a little to the side to catch his eyes and sees in them that he would listen now, what was a good thing because her instincts told her that danger was nearing.

Laxus came to the conclusion that just this one time he would submit to her, not that he really wants to but he has a feeling that in this moment there really is no other way. His own Dragon instincts were very adamant to take the control and dominate the little girl on top of him but Laxus has practice in ignoring them. More so because he can hear the Monsters on their way to them again and knows that they don't have much time. So when his neck is completely bared to her, no he and his instincts doesn't like this one bit, and she catches his eyes he trys to show her with his eyes that he will give in.

"Alright Blondie, I will listen. Just stop what you are doing right now, I can hear the Monsters coming and want to be an my feet when they attack again."

Lucy holds him in this position a few more seconds before she lessens her hold on his throat and sits up, his hand still pinned down, waiting for any sign that he would defy and challenge her again. Not seeing any indications that he would do anything, she places Loke's Key back on her Key-ring and then stands up fully.

Behind them were Bickslow and Gajeel waiting for Laxus to attack Lucy now that he is free to do so, and they were prepared to protect the blonde to the best of their abilities but nothing happens. What again leaves them gaping and dumbfounded with the situation before them

Seeing that Laxus does nothing her instincts go back and she deactivates, the prior on instinct activated, link. Her eyes now back to their normal brown with the new specks of golden orange in them widen when she has her instincts back under control and fully realizes what she had just done. She just dominated Laxus fucking Dreyar and he let her, even though it was reluctant. What is wrong with her? No what is wrong with her instincts? She really needs to get them under control.

"So... uhm... I'm sorry for that just now Laxus! And when you let me, I will explain everything later but you probably know that we don't have time for that right now. Changing topic... Like I wanted to say previously, I will call out Hydra, a new Silver Key I just got. Hydra should be perfect for the job as an Alpha-Monster.", just thinking about her new Spirit makes her smile in happiness again.

"Hydra? And even though it don't want to end like Laxus, are you sure that this new Spirit of yours is the right one for this job, Bunny Girl? It's not like I think you're weak but none of the Silver Keys I met until now was really strong and suitable for an actual battle, and now to pose as an Alpha-Monster are your really sure th..."

This time it wasn't her new lion instincts that lead to her next action, no it were her normal Lucy-instincts, and so she delivered a swift Lucy-Kick to Gajeel's head for insulting her Spirits. Oh how she hates it when someone underestimates her or her Spirits!

"Yes, I am completely sure that Hydra is the perfect one for this job! Stop with your looking down on me and my Spirits, I have enough of this bullshit! Hydra!", Lucy yells. All these comments on her or her Spirits brings her former angry mood back, all these remembers her of the way Team Natsu treated her, even though they never said it out lout like this. But their actions made it just as clear as these comments. And she can only hope that she can convince her new Team that she isn't some weak little girl.

All these thoughts fly though her head while Hydra makes the same entrance as the last time Lucy called him. Lucy of course isn't fazed by this but the three guys look a little frightened as they hear the rumbling and see the dark smoke appear before them. And the way the Spirit appears from this smoke doesn't make it better at all, these fangs and glowing eyes are truly terrifying. And if they didn't knew it was Lucy's Spirit, they would probably have searched for a place to hide, knowing that after all these fighting they are too exhausted to fight this Monster or rather Spirit before them.

"Oh fuck, I really didn't expect Cosplayer to have something like this up her sleeve! Hopefully this Spirit can really fight and is not only show...", and with that Bickslow gains his own Lucy-Kick.


	7. Chapter 7

So I have written my first exam and had a little time to write something. Have fun with this!

* * *

"Hey guys, how have you been?", Lucy smiles brightly up at the four heads before them, her annoying Team mates for the moment forgotten. "Hello Princess, with what can we help you today?", Trevet speaks first. "Little human girl, good to see you again! And who are these scared looking guys behind you? And why is one of them groaning in pain on the ground?", Hayden grins at her. Calder and Niyol nuzzle her in greeting.

"You four, let me introduce you to Laxus, the blonde guy, Gajeel the one with black hair and the one on the ground is Bickslow. And he lays there because I kicked him for what he said. Oh and, Capricorn should have told you that these guys are my new Team mates, even though they seem to don't believe me. And the reason I called you is because I need you to play an Alpha-Monster. Here in the forest is a Dark Guild and their Master can control Monsters and an Alpha-Monster is able to break this control. My new Team is already fighting for a long time and I overheard the Guild speaking about attacking them soon, so we need to get rid of these Monsters so they can rest and then fight the Dark Guild. And we don't have much time, the Monsters are already near again and could attack any moment.", Lucy explains.

"Oh little human girl, this is the kind of job I like. Oh I can see it now, we are going to have so much fun together!", Hayden states with a feral grin. As next Calder speaks up,"Princess, we have something for you. You probably won't like it but for situations like this it could be really useful." "What do you have for me and why do you think that I won't like it?", a curious Lucy asks.

"Well we have this short sword for you so that you can decapitate us to set our other heads free. This weapo...", Niyol explains but Lucy interrupts him, "Wait what? Decapitate you? You are right, I don't like this! And I would never hurt any of my Spirits, even if the reason is to make you stronger!"

Behind them the three guys just stare at the scene before them. Decapitate to make them stronger? This Monster or Spirit already looks terrifying enough! Are they crazy?!

"Don't worry, Princess! This short sword is specifically made for this purpose and won't hurt us. From now on this weapon will appear at your side when ever you call us and then we can make the decision if there is the need for calling the other ones." While Trevet speaks Calder lowers his head to Lucy with the sword between his teeth, Lucy eyes the sword warily, "It really won't hurt you? You promise? I could never forgive myself if I would hurt any of my Spirits!"

"Hey little human girl, we promise! We would never lie to you about something like this. And we are very happy that you already care this much about us!", Hayden reassures her, his behavior completely different from normal. Lucy looks all of them in the eyes and then slowly reaches out for the short sword.

At the moment Lucy touches the short sword the only thing the three guys behind her can think is "She is really going to do it! and step a few steps back unconsciously.

The only thing Lucy can think about as soon as she touches the sword is how beautiful it is and the feeling it is giving of, it's as if the sword itself is telling her that it wouldn't hurt her Spirits. She admires the beauty of the sword, it's deep black with gold lining the sharp blade and has a golden star separating the blade from the hilt, before she turns her gaze back to Hydra.

And before she can ask a last time Hayden speaks up, "Now little human girl! We don't have much time before the Monsters are back!"

Without really thinking about it she let the blade whiz down at Hayden's neck and without waiting for a reaction she turns to do the same with Calder and Niyol. She is pretty sure that without the feeling the sword is giving her she would never be able to do this.

The guys watch this slack-jawed, never would they have thought that Lucy would be able to do something like that. She just decapitated her Spirit, three times!

"So, I don't know what will happen now, since I have never seen it before but maybe we should go back a bit.", Lucy smiles as she turns to her Team, what sends a shiver down their spines. All this right now is just too crazy for their sleep deprived brains to really comprehend. So they step back along with Lucy and watch as the three decapitated regrow along with three new ones.

"Hello Princess, it is a honor to meet you! I am Najm and can as you know control celestial magic. The one with yellow eyes is Rai and the one with ice-blue eyes is Korah. As far as I know, Trevet already told you everything you need to know, what is perfect since we don't have any time left. Maybe we will find another time to properly talk. You all should step back or rather try to find a hideout for the night while we deal with the Monsters. I can sense that your comrades are really exhausted and need to rest, if they want to be able to fight the Dark Guild tomorrow!, the three new head bow and then turn their attention to the forest and the incoming Monsters.

The new Team turns around and runs in the opposite direction, halting shortly at the end of the clearing to watch what is happening. They can hear the almighty roar Hydra lets loose and see the different elements attack the Monsters which try to run directly to the three guys, just like their order is. Seeing all the different elements just left the three guys staring with their mouths agape once again. They wake up from their freeze when Lucy pulls them along as best as she can with three big and heavy males.

"Do you know how the Monsters where able to find you again? Can they smell you?", Lucy asks already planning their next step in her head. "I think some of them are able to smell us and the others follow them.", Gajeel answers. "Then I know what to do, you Slayers won't like it but this is probably our best chance to get away and search for a place for the night where they can't find us, so that you can rest."

Lucy touches her Keys and asks Virgo for the necessary thing for her plan. Virgo appears with a bottle full of perfume in her right hand.

"Princess, this is specially made so only the Monsters can smell it. And the smell will disappear automatically after a few hours or after bathing. Punishment?", Virgo states with her monotone voice and a slight spark in her eyes at the thought of punishment. "No Virgo no punishment. And thank you for this, this should be a great help!", Lucy smiles brightly at her before taking the small bottle and turning to the guys, spraying the perfume on them and her without asking.

"Oi, Blondie! What the heck are you doing?" "Oh calm down Laxus, will you? You won't even notice that I sprayed you but the Monsters won't be able to trace your scent." Lucy watches as both Slayers flare their nostrils and then widen their eyes in realization that she is right. Bickslow too watches this and can't help his cackle at their expressions, it seems that Lucy throws surprise after surprise at them today.

"So now that this is clarified lets search for a cave or something like that to rest for the night.", and with that Lucy turns around and stomps in the directions of the mountains, slowly really annoyed with her new Team mates, hopefully that will get better when they are rested and were able to speak about everything.

The three look at her walking form and notice the annoyance in her steps and decides to follow her quickly before she turns all Scary and dominating Lucy on them again.

Lucy leads them along the mountains in the direction of the Dark Guild, so they are not to far away from them to be able to maybe make a surprise attack the next morning when they all are well rested.

Luckily they don't have to search for very long before finding a cave for them, luck because it slowly begins to turn dark outside.

The whole time Lucy sustained Hydra's Gate open, giving them enough magic to fight all these Monsters and to slowly dominate them. She becomes regular updates on the situation from them.

And finally as they enter the cave they tell her that they were able to accomplish their goal and dominated all present Monsters. Lucy sighs as she feels the pull on her magic stop when they return to the Spirit World.

"So Blondie, will you finally explain to us what is happening? And what all this means?", Laxus asks with one eyebrow raised. "You know you are blonde too? And yes Sparky. Just wait a minute."

"Sparky?! What the hell? You will not...", Laxus stops himself as he realizes that she isn't listening. It looks as if she was deep in thought with one of her hands on her Keys. _"Is she waiting for an attack or something like that?"_

"Will that be all you need, Princess? I brought dinner for all of you with me. Aries will arrive shortly to make this place more comfortable. And Capricorn asked me to tell you that he advised you to meditate this night but not to try and build up a new link. He believes you can do that on your own to save you magic for the fight tomorrow. Punishment?", Virgo appears with several bags in her hands. "No that would be all Virgo. And please tell Capricorn that I will do as he said. And no, no punishment.", she smiles at her Spirit. "Then I will set up camp, Princess."

"No Virgo, you don't need...", but Virgo already started and was finished before Lucy could really finish her sentence and then disappeared back to the Spirit World. Just as she disappears Aries shows up and makes some beds from her wool for them, Lucy thanks her and then sends her back.

"So guys how about I explain everything to you during dinner?", Lucy grins at them as she sat down on one of the chairs in front of the camping table with all the delicious smelling food. She can't stop her giggles as the guys practically runs to the table and start to pile up food on their plates, she takes some herself and they just eat in silence at first.

"Bunny Girl, tell me how comes that you are seemingly in our Team now?", Gajeel starts first. "Before I answer this let me ask you something Laxus. Why didn't you answer your Com? Master and I tried to reach you since yesterday!"

"My Com?", he grabs in his pocket to take it out and then realizes that it's missing, "It's seems I must have lost it sometime during our fight. Why did you try to reach me?"

"Well Master wanted to tell you that I am your new Team mate and that he sent me after you to help you with this job. And yesterday and today we tried to reach you to find out were you are so that I am able to find you. And Gajeel, I wasn't at the Guild as the rest of you made the new Teams so I draw my number yesterday and got your Team. So you can either believe me or can call Master with my Com now.", she sends Laxus a challenging look over the table, trying to see if he really thinks she is lying.

"No no, Cosplayer, we believe you, don't we, boss man?", Bickslow looks at Laxus from his seat beside Lucy. Laxus just nods.

Next she explains them everything about the Dark Guild she found and their plans. They nod and listen to everything she says and you can see the shame in Laxus eyes that he didn't think more about this job, he is the S-class mage and should know better than this. It seems that Lucy really saved their asses.

"By the way, Blondie, what was that earlier? I mean this whole sudden dominating thing. And your eyes were different and now that I think about it you had this glow on your chest.", Laxus asks, wanting to finally know what happened there.

Lucy flushes as she remembers her behavior earlier, "I... uhm... That was some kind of next step in my magic, my Spirits told me about yesterday. Through my connection with the stars I am able to build up links to the different constellation and can use the magic from the constellations I am linked with. The link manifests as a tattoo somewhere on my body, when I activate the link the tattoo glows, that was the glow you saw earlier. My eyes look different because of this too. I am not using the magic from the Spirits rather really the magic from the constellation. You never know what magic I gain from the link. And yesterday I build up a link with the Leo constellation to be able to fight better on this mission since it's S-class. But I have such a strong bond with the constellation and Spirit, that I also gained some Lion instincts, like hunt, protect and dominate. Furthermore this strong bond leads to me having these instincts in a lessened way even when I deactivate the link, that is why I have now golden orange specks in my eyes. Since I only have this link since yesterday night, I didn't have time to learn and control these instincts. So during the fight and when I dominated you Laxus, these Lion instincts took control and I couldn't stop myself from doing what I did. I am really sorry Laxus! And I hope that you will forgive me! I will do my best in the future to not let this happen again, but I believe it will need sometime before I can fully control these instincts, especially when I have activated the link."

All of them look at her amazed, never before have they heard of a Celestial Mage who is able to do something like that. This is really amazing! And how can Laxus be really angry at her when he knows from experience how hard it is to control new instincts, it was the same with his Dragon instincts after the Lacrima was implanted. Even now it's still sometimes hard to control his instincts.

"It's alright, Blondie, I forgive you. And I am too sorry for my behavior earlier, I don't really know why I behaved the way I did. I shouldn't have laughed at you and should have let you finish.", he looks down in shame, remembering how he behaved towards her earlier, this was not how he is now. Yes he might be still an asshole sometimes but he has changed and doesn't look down on his Guild mates anymore.

"It's alright Sparky, you were probably just exhausted and couldn't think anymore. But I really hope that won't happen again, I hate it when someone looks down on me and my Spirits. I know many think that I am weak, especially after my failed attempts at the GMG, but I am not!", she speaks with fire in her eyes.

"We know Bunny Girl, especially after today. Gihi!", Gajeel grins. "Yeah, we know, the GMG doesn't count because you were cheated on! And what is it with this nickname? Sparky?", an irritated Laxus asks.

"Well you keep calling me Blondie, even though you are blonde yourself. So it's just fair when I have a nickname for you too, Sparky!", she just grins back. Laxus grumbles but doesn't say anything back, for now at least, he is to exhausted to have a discussion at the moment.

"So Cosplayer, tell me, do you want us to sleep on this pink wool?" "Well yes, you all doesn't seem to have your own bags anymore and believe me this wool is so soft that you don't want to sleep on something else ever again. So you guys take a nap and I will go out to meditate.", without letting them say anything else she stands up and moves out of the cave.

Like the other night Lucy settles down and starts her meditation. She knows that it would be wise to, again, do this without her second origin because of the fight tomorrow. She slowly releases her magic and let the magic pressure build up around her and somewhat feels as the winds moves faster around her.

Inside of the cave the guys can feel the strong magic pressure and at first think that they are under attack. They hurry outside and are greeted with Lucy sitting on the ground, wind whipping her hair wildly around her. Maybe they, especially Laxus who until now had the least to do with her, should reconsider their previous thoughts about her. Yes they told her earlier that they don't think that she is weak and they really don't think of her as weak but this right now is so much more magic then they expected from her. Especially Laxus had his doubts about her true strength, not being weak doesn't automatically mean strong. They thought she was on a normal level maybe even a bit under a normal level since it seems that her magic is always drained so fast but they can feel that she is still releasing more magic, building up more pressure around her.

They all have one thought, _"Maybe I was wrong about her strength. She has so much more magic than I ever thought possible from her. But how does it come that she always seems to have problems in fights? At least that is what you hear from her Team..."_ And then they remember what she said about her old Team looking down on her, maybe there is more to this than they thought.

They watch her a little longer and then decide to go back in and get some sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

"Good morning, guys!", the three males in the group woke up to Lucy's wake up call and a heavenly smell wafting through their cave.

The only answer she gets is a grumbling and them turning around to sleep a little longer. Yeah Lucy knows this feeling, the wool does that to you when you aren't used to it. But she was already up for two hours and had already taken a bath outside in a little lake she was able to find and had made some breakfast for them all. It's time for them to finally wake up too.

"Now come on! You already slept approximately ten hours... And I have all these delicious food here, food that I need to eat all alone when you don't stand up soon.", she tries to allure them out of bed.

"Ten hours?!", a half sleepy and half shocked Bickslow asks. "Yes, ten hours! It seems as if you all were more exhausted then you thought. And I would really love to let you all sleep longer but we have a Dark Guild to take care of!", after her confirmation all males sit up in a blink of an eye. "Fine, fine. We are coming Bunny.", Gajeel grumbles.

"How about we eat now and after breakfast I can show you the little lake I found earlier to wash yourselves?"

By now all were sitting at the table and like the Night before piling up their plates and only nodding at her.

After the breakfast Lucy leads them to the little lake and asks them to put their clothes to the side so Virgo can take them to the Spirit World and bring them new ones.

* * *

"So Blondie, do you know how we will get to this Dark Guild from here?" "Well not me but my Spirits does! Argos, Theron!"

The two dogs happily jumps around Lucy and then proceed to smell her new Team, to remember their scents for the future. "Cosplayer? What are they doing?", Bickslow asks, looking warily down at the two big black dogs. "Oh, is Bixy a little scared of my two sweet hunting dogs?", she teases, "Don't worry, they just smell you to remember all your scents, in case we get separate in the future. From now on they should be able to find you wherever you are! Could you two please lead us to the camp of the Dark Guild we found yesterday?" _"Of course Princess! We will split up, one will lead you to their location and the other will scout the area for Monsters."_ , Argos tells her, while the guys again look confused. They of course can't hear the dogs, because of the telepathic connection they have with Lucy. But if they want to, they can allow other Mages to hear them as well.

Argos runs off in the surrounding forest while Theron begins with his Tracking Magic to search for the Dark Mages.

An hour later they are near the Camp. Luckily they didn't have to fight any Monsters on their way and have, with the exception of Lucy, all their magic left to fight.

With their Dragon Slayer Hearing Laxus and Gajeel are able to hear that the Mages still don't know that they were able to break the control on the Monsters and that they plan to head out in about an hour to attack them.

The four make the plan to attack from all sides at the same time to hopefully stop them from escaping. Before separating Lucy calls out Gemini again and asks them to change into the Guild Master so they can tell them what magic the rest of the Guild has and exactly how many there are.

The Guild has twenty-five member plus the Master. There are five members that are stronger than the rest, a Shadow-Make Mage, a Speed Mage with two Swords, one with Monster-Takeover, Tattoo Magic and a Water Mage. They decide that Laxus will go after the Speed Mage, Gajeel will take on the Takeover Mage, Bickslow the Tattoo Mage and Lucy will take on the Shadow-Make Mage and call out Aquarius for the Water Mage. Furthermore, Lucy will call out Virgo to take out and tie up as many as possible from the remaining weaker Mages. Since there aren't Monsters nearby they decide to wait up and look who will fight the Master, maybe Virgo can take him out before he is able to call more Monsters.

They get ready, then separate and wait for the signal, a single lightning bolt from Laxus, to attack.

Lucy who knows how easily forests are destroyed in magic fights calls out Scutum to set up a barrier around the clearing so no stray attack can damage the forest as long as the attacking Mage isn't stronger than herself. Touching Virgos and Aquarius Keys she quickly tells them the plan and promises Aquarius, a Date with Scorpio here on Earth Land when she doesn't wash her and her Team Mates away. Virgo tells her that Loke has decided to come out of his Gate with his own power to take on the Guild Master.

And just as she has activated her link to the Leo constellation she can see the signal. Quickly calling out Virgo and Aquarius she attacks herself.

Lucy can already feel her Lion instincts kicking in and let them take her over with only the thought in mind to take out this Shadow-Make Mage, hoping that the Regulus Light effects the shadows as they hoped while making the plan. Whip in on hand she looks around in search for her target.

To her left she can see Bickslow fighting the Tattoo Mage, who can summon the beings he had tattooed on himself to fight. Currently Bickslow and his babies are fighting a nasty looking wolf and a big snake.

All around her are flashes of lightning to see, what Lucy can only assume is Laxus who follows the Speed Mage all around them. But there isn't much to see for her, the fight far to fast for her eyes to follow.

She observes as Virgo pops out from the earth directly under the weaker mages and ties them up in the moment they are distracted.

Just as she spots Loke fighting the Guild Master in hand to hand combat her instincts kick in and she lets herself fall to the ground, evading the shadow daggers just in time. She jumps up again and turns around, fist alight with Regulus. The next daggers come from her right and she spins around blocking most of the daggers with her whip and finally spots her opponent. Sadly for him he isn't able to become a shadow himself, he can only make shadows appear and form them as he wishes, just like Gray and his Ice-Make. Lucy keeps her eyes on him while she stalks to him, her new prey.

Seeing her advance he sends more and more shadow daggers at her. Most of them she can evade or block but he sends so much that she isn't able to see every dagger coming at her. It seems the closer the daggers come to her, the more faint they look, the prior deep black fades to a light black almost grey when reaching her. They still hurt and cut her and her clothes but are much weaker than when they are deep black. She had seen how much damage one of these daggers was able to do as she deflected one of them and it hit one of the trees near them. She observes this happen and then comes to the conclusion that the Regulus Light is responsible for weaken the shadows this much.

Grinning at this discovery she lets her whole body glow softly in the golden Regulus Light and now all shadow daggers disappear before reaching her. For a moment she sees the shocked look in the eyes of her opponent and grins at him wickedly before launching herself at him. He blocks her fist with a shield of shadows, it seems that in this form he is able to hold the shadows even though Lucy can see that the shield isn't deep black. Jumping back she avoids the sword just in time, otherwise she would have been hit directly between her breasts. Not noticing that even though she was fast enough to not get hit herself, her top wasn't this lucky.

The Shadow-Make Mage of course notices this and stares at her breasts, with just her bra still on, with a hungry look in his eyes. Lucy still hasn't noticed this and just growls angrily before attacking again. With his sword and shield he is somewhat able to block her Regulus attacks. But while she is instinctual pouring more and more magic in her attacks, making her glowing brighter and brighter, he doesn't have this help. This leads to him needing to focus on pouring more magic in his attacks to sustain his shadows while being near Lucy and her golden glow, what also leads to him being a little blinded.

But exactly this focus on his own magic and being blinded is what leads to him loosing. One moment he is pouring more magic in his sword and shield after both were again weakened too much to be able to really hurt her and in the next moment he is flying through the air before crashing to the ground, knocking the air out of his lungs. From his place he can see her standing on her right leg, left still in the air from her previous kick. Before he can stand up again and perform his next spell Lucy has wrapped her whip around him and his sending him flying once again, this time in her direction, to deliver her famous Lucy-Kick to his head, knocking him out immediately.

Without waiting she spins around and searches for her next opponent, her instincts still in control and telling her that her Team is still in danger.

Observing the scene, she can make out that Aquarius already defeated her opponent and is now fighting alongside Loke against the Master, who was able to call a few Monsters. So while Loke is engaging the Master in hand to hand combat, Aquarius is washing all the Monster away that are coming to the clearing.

Seeing that this is for now under control she looks further. It seems that Laxus is still fighting the Speed Mage, telling her that he is really fast when he can avoid Laxus lightning this long.

Gajeel is currently fighting against something that looks similar to a Wyvern, probably really a Takeover: Wyvern Soul. It seems to be a fierce battle but looking closely it seems as if Gajeel has the upper hand in this fight.

Bickslow was like Lucy able to defeat his opponent and is now taking out more of the weaker mages.

Looking behind her again she sees that Virgos has tied up her defeated opponent already and is now carrying the defeated Mages all to the side.

Satisfied with her overview Lucy launches herself in the middle of the field to fight at Bickslow's side. She knows that she needs to take out as many as possible, as quickly as possible since she can feel that her magic is getting low, even though she still has her second origin she doesn't want to take a risk in this fight.

And she still hasn't noticed that she only is wearing her bra and that her shorts are cut up so much that she could almost be just in her underwear while she bounces from opponent to opponent. Not realizing that her state of clothing or rather the absence of clothing is the reason she is able to land so many hits. This Guild only has males and none of them is able to not stare at her when they realize that she is practically nude. What only happens when she is directly in front of them because the glow around her his blinding them all too much to see it from farther away.

With a loud thunderclap Laxus is back on the ground, with his defeated opponent in one hand. He drops the guy and then, like Lucy before, looks around to get a good look at the current situation. His eyes widen as he sees the golden glow around Lucy, he too isn't able to make out that at the moment she practically wears nothing, but this glow alone is enough to let him stare at her in amazement. He can barely make out the outlines of her body in the golden glow. He watches as she kicks a guy and sends him flying. To him at the moment she almost looks like a goddess, powerful and beautiful at the same time.

Shaking his head to come out of his stupor he notices that Bickslow too has stopped his fighting and is watching Lucy in amazement, this glow makes her just so divine that it's hard to look somewhere else.

Looking around more, he sees Lucy's Spirits taking care of the Guild Master, the arriving Monsters and another one tying up the defeated opponents. Looking down next to him he notices that apparently Virgo has taken his opponent too, to tie him up like the others.

There are only around four Mages left aside from the Master and Gajeel's opponent. Seeing how Lucy and her Spirits work, he realizes that they are somewhat of a little army on their own, what impresses him even more.

He decides to quicken this fight up and flashes to Loke and the Master, shouting a warning to Loke he shocks the unsuspecting Guild Master as soon as Loke is far away enough to not get hit too.

Seeing that the Monsters are standing on the wet ground he calls out for Aquarius and then sends his lightning at them to shock them all at the same time.

In the meantime Gajeel was able to finally defeat his opponent and one of the remaining Mages. Bickslow and Lucy too were able to take out one more, leaving only two more to fight.

Again Laxus shouts a warning and then shocks the Mages until they are unconscious, thus ending the fight.

Her instincts telling her that there is no more danger, she sends her Spirits back after Virgo tied up the last and then deactivates her link.

With that the guys are finally able to see that her clothes are all practically gone and that she had fought in just her bra and cut up shorts, leading them to be able to see her black thong matching her black bra. All prior thoughts are gone and they all can only stare at her with blood slowly dripping from their noses.

Seeing this, Lucy looks down to confirm her suspicion that she again has lost her clothes in the fight. Seeing how undressed she really is, she squeals before rising her hands to shield herself and then squating to hide herself more from there stares.

The squeal brings them out of their perverted fantasies while staring at her and they turn around blushing, even Laxus can't stop the blush. But can you really blame them?

Calming down and willing the blush away, Laxus turns around and walks in Lucy's direction, who had closed her eyes, and drops his coat over her.


	9. Chapter 9

Feeling a weight on her, Lucy's head snaps up and she sees Laxus who has already turned away from her again to hide his returning blush. Looking down on herself her eyes widen immediately as soon as she realizes that the weight she felt was his precious coat, a super soft and warm coat. Purely on instinct Lucy wraps the coat more securely around herself and nuzzles in the soft fur.

There a heavenly smell enters her nose and she can't stop herself from further rubbing her nose in the fur and inhaling this scent more deeply. This scent reminds her of of the forest after a Storm has come trough the Night before, a very clean and comforting scent.

Luckily for her none of the three guys notice this because they are all still turned away from her.

Lucy comes out of her scent-drugged state when she hears Laxus mumble something about calling the Rune Knights.

Instead of responding to him she touches Virgo's Key and asks her for new clothes and her own Com. Only seconds later Virgo appears, giving Lucy a new set of clothing and then stepping in front of Laxus to give him the Com.

As soon as Lucy has her new clothes she rushes away from the clearing to hide behind some trees to change.

In the meantime Laxus calls for the Rune Knights and practically demands some of the mages who can teleport. Now that the fight is over and there is no almost naked Lucy to stare at, his good mood vanishes replaces with exhaustion and annoyance.

"Thanks for your coat Laxus, I really appreciate this!", she smiles up at him as she reluctantly gives him his coat back. "Yeah, whatever Blondie...", he grumbles back, not really understanding why he did that, normally he would never give his coat to someone else.

Huffing at his short responds she turns and begins to walk away from him to inspect the captured Dark Mages, all the while mumbling in annoyance to herself, "Well, at least he did something to help me. My old Team would have just laughed and then state how annoying it is that I always lose my clothes in a fight, before starting to leave without waiting for me to change. Is it really my fault that this always happens to me?! I mean Gray always strips anyway so there are no clothes to destroy, Erza armor always protects her and Natsu doesn't wear much to destroy... Oh and Laxus? Maybe you should call Master to tell him what happened. I completely forgot this with all what has happened but he is probably worried because he couldn't reach you", she ads as an afterthought.

He only grunts in annoyance but calls his Gramps anyway. Just like he predicted his Gramps frantically answers the call and fires question after question at him while looking him up and down, as good as possible over a Com, in search for injuries.

"Gramps! Calm down, will you? Here is everything alright and we just finished the mission. You couldn't reach me because I must have lost my own Com during the fight and haven't realized it until Lucy found us and asked me why you couldn't reach me. I will give you a full report when I am back but for now this should be enough. We are all exhausted and are only waiting for these annoying cowards from the Council. I think it will be best for all of us when we rest here for the Night and take the train back tomorrow.", Laxus interrupts him, knowing that if he didn't his Gramps would probably speak for hours.

"Alright my boy, then I will await your full report on the mission. Oh and I don't know if Lucy already told you but you can start to make a Team name. I believe you have time enough to think about this and tell me your decision when you are all back." And with that he ends the call before his Grandson can complain, leaving Laxus behind who now glares at the empty and quiet Com.

"I am Captain Theodoric. Are you the Fairy Tail Mages that called us to arrest Mages of a Dark Guild?", the apparent, seemingly young, Leader of the Rune Knight who just showed up asks.

Lucy steps for and answers him, "Yes we are from Fairy Tail. And all these tied up Mages you can see belong to the newly formed Dark Guild with the name Monster Tamer. We came here for a mission to help Gentiana to defeat the Monsters attacking the city. I came aware of the Dark Guild while searching for my Team mates in this forest. This one here is the Guild Master and he has the ability the somewhat control all kinds of Monster, meaning he controlled the Monsters who attack Gentiana. The Monsters are no longer under his control though and the mission should be finished."

Even though he can only gape at Lucy stepping for like this, Laxus is very happy she did. During missions with his old Team, Freed was almost every time the one to do the speaking since he himself isn't really good with communication and staying calm while dealing with these council people.

"Alright Miss..." "Lucy." "Miss Lucy, we will take them with us and call if there should arise question. Now we will let you go back to the city and rest, have a good day.", he formally bows before her and then barks orders to the rest of the Knights. "Have a good day yourself and thank you for your good work.", Lucy answers with a smile, happy that for once there isn't a dispute with the Rune Knights like it always happens with Team Natsu. "Oh Captain Theodoric? I am sorry to ask but would you be able to tell us what direction Gentiana is? I am out of magic to ask my Spirits for help and I don't think that the rest of my Team knows how to get back?", a quick glance to the guys shows that she was right.

"Even better, I can teleport you there. Since for once Fairy Tail didn't damaged the forest very much in a fight I think it would be okay to do that. Oh and you can call me just Captain Theo, Miss Lucy.", he smiles at her.

"Oh thank you very much, that would be very kind of you Captain Theo! Me and my Team would really appreciate this kind gesture of yours.", Lucy giggles, slightly flirting with him to hopefully stay on his good side for the future. You never know, but a friend, one who is Captain, good be of great help.

The guys only roll their eyes at her behavior but didn't say anything against it, the thought to be teleported back to the city and not to have walk all the way back enlightens their mood a bit. After the fight they realized that even tough they had a full night of sleep they are still exhausted from the constant fighting against Monster, add the defeat of the Dark Guild and now they are all ready to just lay down and sleep. Of course none of them would admit that, that would totally destroy they image as strong Mages, especially Laxus'. So the straighten up and then walk over to Lucy and her Captain, not letting their exhaustion show.

* * *

After another goodbye from the Captain they make their way to the Mayor to tell him the good news. Lucy is practically skipping to the house while others are slowly and irritated with her good mood are trailing behind her.

Knocking on the door Lucy is greeted with a hug, "Oh Lucy, you are back! And I see you found the other three guys. Come in, come in and tell me everything."

Mace takes her hand and then pulls her into the living room, the now even more annoyed males hot on their heels. He sits down with Lucy on the smaller couch, leaving the males to share the bigger one.

So Laxus starts with a short summary until the point where Lucy found them and after that Lucy takes over, giving some more details but still trying to make it quick and short.

"I know you all must be exhausted so I would like to offer you to stay in my house for the Night and eat dinner later. Lucy here can tell you how soft our beds are and how delicious the food is.", he questions them. "Yeah he is right with that. So I will take your offer again, Mace, this is very kind from you. Just like the last time."

"Soft bed, delicious food.. Count me in! Hey, Cosplayer, want to show me one of these soft beds and then share?", Bickslow asks, back to his perverted self, showing his tongue like usual. "Pervert!"

Before Lucy can deliver her Kick as punishment for his perversion, Laxus and Gajeel agree to stay and ask where their rooms are.

The rest of the day the guys stay in their rooms to rest. Lucy stays with Mace and just talks with him.

Lucy wanted to go up to them and ask if they want to think about a name for the Team but decided against it when she remembered how exhausted they all were. Instead she plans to speak with them about it tomorrow on the way back to the Guild.

During dinner, Lucy and Mace are again the only ones talking. And like the other Night Lucy stayed with Mace she goes in the garden to meditate a little before going to sleep.

* * *

The next morning they eat breakfast together and Mace gives them their reward.

Lucy can only gape at the huge back full of Jewels just for her. Seeing her reaction Laxus only chuckles and holds the request in front of her eyes so that she can see the reward they get for this mission.

The high number on the flyer brings Lucy to completely freeze, with her mouth wide agape and her eyes wide in shock.

Laxus chuckle turns into a full blown laughter, with Gajeel and Bickslow soon joining him when spotting the still motionless blonde.

Calming down Laxus tries to wake Lucy from her rigidity, "Oi Blondie, whats wrong with you? Never seen this large sum of Jewel before? I thought Titania would have taken you to some S-class mission."

"Huh... Oh.. uhm... To tell the truth, the only S-class mission I ever was on, was the one Natsu had stolen and at that time I was more interested in the Gold Key the offered as reward and not the amount of Jewels we will get. I do remember that it was quiet high, probably even higher than this here but still... I mean this makes 1250000 Jewels each Mage! This much we normally didn't even get as a whole reward on a mission. And most times the rest from Team Natsu destroys so much, that I am happy when there is anything left from the reward for us... So this right now is just wow...", she explains with stars in her eyes.

"If you want to arrive on time you should leave for the train now!", Mace speaks up before the other guys really realize what Lucy just told them.

But they all quietly decide to memorize this information for later to ask her more about it. The things she said the Night before still on their minds.

They arrive just in time at the train station to buy a ticket and then find an empty compartment, in the first-class section something Lucy can suddenly afford, before the train starts.

Lucy just wanted to bring up the topic of a Team name when she realizes something.

They are on a train, having a five hour ride and all this with two motion-sick Dragon Slayers.

 _"Oh shit!"_ , and with that thought the moaning and groaning starts.


	10. Chapter 10

Well to be more specific, only one Slayer is groaning in his seat. The other one is sitting with his headphones over his ears, arms crossed in front of his chest and an almost complete stoic face, almost because there is a slight green tinge around his nose.

This is a situation Lucy knows well, but there is quite a big difference. Normally it would be Natsu and now it's Laxus and Gajeel. Natsu would either get knocked out by Erza or lay down in her lap. But is this something she can offer to Laxus and Gajeel, two of the strongest Mages and moreover two Mages she doesn't really know.

And even if she would offer it to them, what exactly would she offering or saying? Hey Laxus, Gajeel, I know we are just a Team for a few days but do you want to lay down your head in my lap? They would probably just laugh at her or doesn't react at all and think that she is crazy or something like that.

So no, for now this isn't something she is willing to offer. They are after all more like strangers at the moment, especially Laxus.

Having made her decision she turns around to speak a bit with Bickslow. But before she can open her mouth one of his Babies suddenly appears directly in front of her face and she realizes that apparently Bickslow has left their compartment.

"Oh, hello there little one and who might be you?" Lucy thinks that all of his Babies are pretty cute and she always wanted to know more about them but this one must be her favorite, the big smile painted on it always makes her smile too.

"Pappa, Pappa", the little totem excitedly answers while flying up and down. "Nice to meet you Pappa, I am Lucy.", Lucy grins and offers her hand for Pappa to land on.

An offer that Pappa accepts, the little totems lands on her and with it's face turned to her, "Lucy, Lucy!"

Being so concentrated on Pappa Lucy didn't notice that one of the other totems has too came closer to her, she only realizes this when she was suddenly nudged on the arm where Pappa is currently sitting on.

Not sure if this one is upset because she didn't notice him earlier Lucy begins to speak, "Well nice to meet you too, care to tell me your name?" She sends a gently smile at the totems who was still somewhat hiding behind her own arm.

"Puppu, Puppu.", the totem comes slowly out from under her arm to that Lucy is able to see which one it is. This one seems to have a red mask over his eyes and a green nose with only a little mouth underneath, making him look a little curious and shy at the same time.

"Hello Puppu! Do you and Pappa think that the rest of you will introduce themselves to me too? I would love to get to know all of you! Always wanted for a long time already.", she grins at them both as soon a Puppu has sat down on top of Pappa.

"Lucy, Lucy!", they both fly away from her hand to the rest of the totems which were all sitting on Bickslow's seat. There they sat in in front of the other three and seem to communicate with them.

Seemingly coming to a conclusion Pappa and Puppu fly up and around the rest before flying back to Lucy and landing on both her shoulders. Shortly after the other three came over to them, lining up before Lucy.

"Pippi, Pippi.", the only one who has teeth painted on says before sitting down on her right thigh.

As next the one with the bored face speaks up, "Peppe, Peppe.", and then sits down on her other leg.

"Poppo, Poppo.", the last one says and then sits down on the offered hand.

"Hello to you too, Pippi, Peppe and Poppo! I am very happy to finally know you names!", Lucy smiles and then giggles as they all fly up from there spots only to fly excitedly around her.

Too immersed in her moment with the cute little totems Lucy didn't notice that Laxus had opened one of his eyes and his staring amazed at her. Well as good as possible in his situation, luckily for him his motion sickness isn't as bad as for the other Slayers but still strong enough to immediately close his eyes again and turn more green as the train cart sways a bit.

Gajeel who has motion sickness just as bad as Natsu missed the whole scene.

Sometime later, Lucy is now reading with the little totems sitting on her shoulders and head, Bickslow comes back into the compartment and stops dead in his tracks as soon as he sees his babies by Lucy.

Lucy who heard the door opening looks up from her book and smiles at Bickslow, "Hey Bickslow, where were you? I didn't even notice that you have left... Oh and your babies are just the cutest!" "Lucy, Lucy!", at her little praise all of them fly one last time around her before flying over to Bickslow, who still hasn't moved. Something that apparently annoys at least one of them because Poppo decides that it's a good idea to bumps his head a few times.

"Oi, Poppo!", Bickslow comes out of his freeze when it registered that one of his babies 'attacked' him. This little outburst plus the face he made brings Lucy to almost fall to the floor in laughter.

Seeing her almost fall down Pappa flies back to her with a slight worried, "Lucy, Lucy!" "Oh Pappa, everything is alright! Your dad there was just so funny!", she takes the little one and hugs Pappa to her chest before releasing him again.

And again Bickslow is shell-shocked. This time it's Puppu who bumps against his head.

"Well Cosplayer, it seems that you have one my babies over! Something that never before had anyone done this fast! They even told you their names?", Bickslow sits down on his seat again, still with the shocked expression which her try to cover up with his usual tongue sticking out.

"Well yes they did. Is that something unusual?", she asks while holding Pappa and Puppu.

"Definitely! Normally they only speak to me or repeat what I am saying. Or on some occasions they speak with my old Team and Laxus. But even then it's more to tease them, they love to annoy Ever and sometimes Freed.", he grins, now back to his usual self.

"Oh, really? Than I am even more happy about that and am honored! So where were you?" "In the food cart to buy something to drink.", and with that he offers her a bottle she didn't notice before.

Thanking him she drinks something before giving it back.

They talk for a little longer until Lucy suddenly sits up straight.

"Cosplayer? Is everything alright?", Bickslow asks slightly worried. "Yeah, I just remembered something. This trains stops at the city where Sabertooth has their Guild or not?" Bickslow only nods. "So Gajeel, Laxus I know that you aren't feeling well but I wanted to ask you if you want to stop for lunch in Viola so that I can visit Sabertooth. If you don't to I can always do it alone if that would be okay with you?"

Gajeel just grunts, either in pain or agreement, and Laxus opens his eyes with a questioning look.

"Well on my last mission before I had suddenly a new Team I got something for Yukino and wanted to give it to her as soon as possible.", she answers the unspoken question. "Alright, I have no..." "What is so important Blondie?", came the gruff voice from Laxus, interrupting Bickslow.

"I assume you all remember how Minerva stole my Keys during the Grand Magic Games, making me defenseless? Well I remember it clearly and this is something I never wanted to endure again and luckily I found this little Magic Shop on my mission and the owner made special Key-Rings for Celestial Mages to prevent someone stealing the Keys because she knows that this is our greatest weakness. So I buyed one for Yukino and myself. So it's important for me to help her to never get her Keys stolen like it happened to me.", she sends a slight glare towards Laxus, daring him to question her further of the importance.

"Alright, fine with me Blondie. During lunch we can maybe think about a Team name, Gramps said he wanted to hear one from us when we are back.", for a moment Laxus wonders why he was able to speak this much on a train without throwing up until the train jerks and he realizes that they had stopped shortly. He again turns green and closes his eyes immediately, just focusing on his music, hating that he has a weakness like that.

"Yeah, I think we all remember clearly what happened during that Battle. So I can see the importance and agree with Laxus, Cosplayer!", for a moment he was really serious there and then destroyed the moment with his usual tongue sticking out.

Not thinking that Gajeel will answer Lucy speaks up again, "Thanks guys! I believe we have twenty. Then it's still a little to early to eat lunch but I could go to Sabertooth first. You can come along of course if you want to.", she smiles happily at them, even though only one actually sees this at the moment.

* * *

Gajeel and Laxus have a little more dignity than Natsu, neither of them kissed the ground as soon as they left the train. Not saying that they didn't want to, but they refrain from doing so.

"Come on, come on! I can't wait to see her again! Ohh and cute little Frosch too!", she skips ahead of them with sparkling eyes.

"Calm down, will ya Bunny? We are almost there!"

But Lucy didn't hear him anymore, she had sprinted ahead and was now standing in front of the Guild doors. Pulling her keg back she kicks the doors open and enters with a happy grin and a "Hello Sabertooth, long time no see!".

"Lucy-sama! What are you doing here?" "Fairy-san!" Lucy met the Twin Dragon Slayers by coincidence on one of her Solo missions and they talked for a bit an invited her to visit them. And that is what she did, always visiting when she had a job in this area or she had time and the train stopped here. From that first meeting on Frosch called her Fairy-san.

"I have a surprise for you Yukino and I missed you my little Frosch, come here little guy!", Lucy quickly hugs her before she squats and opens her arms for little Frosch to jump in. Lector, who also took a liking to her, follow soon after.

"Hey Shorty!" "Hello, Miss Lucy. Good to see you again." "Orga, how often do I have to tell you to stop calling me that? And Rufus, you know that you can stop being so formal with me! But anyway good to see you both too!", she grins and gives the, both a short hug, hoping that she didn't squashed the little exceeds in her arms.

"Where are Rouge and Sting?", she looks all around the Guild hall. "Oh you know the usual. Sting making mistakes with his paperwork and the Rouge has to do it." , Yukino explains.

"Uhh not to sound rude Shorty but why are they here?", Orga points to her new Team after they finally realized that there are other new people in there Guild aside from Lucy. "Oh, Master had this idea to make new Teams and they are my new Team. And we just came back from out first job. I wanted to stop here to give Yukino her surprise!", and with that she grabs inside her little bag and gives Yukino the little box Lucy placed the new Key-Ring in. On top of the Ring she had placed a little note for Yukino that explains the Key-Ring and his characteristics and how she can activate the new Key-Ring.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! This means a lot to mean! This is just perfect!" "I'm happy that you like it and..."

"Who do I smell here, isn't it our Girlie with some other Fairies!", Sting smirks down at them. "Hello, Lucy-san, Gajeel-san, Laxus and Bickslow.", Rouge already was down the stairs and quickly hugs Lucy as a greeting and then takes Frosch away from her.

"Hello, to you too. These other Fairies are my new Team so I would watch out what I say when I were you, Sting!", Lucy sends her own smirk at him.

Sting, too, made contact with her Lucy-Kick and decides that for now it would be best to shut up, making Lucy's smirk widen.

They all, or more like Lucy and Sabertooth, talk for a while until Laxus remembers her about Lunch and deciding on a Team name.

Say they their goodbyes and then leave to search for a restaurant in the town.


	11. Chapter 11

Eating together with her new Team in a restaurant was weird, to say the least.

The first difference, no food is flying through the air.

The second, at least for the moment, no fighting between the males in the Team.

The third, she didn't have to pay for them.

Normally she would have food all over her because of Natsu's eating habit and sometimes because of Happy too. Gray and Natsu would even fight during eating, leading to sometimes destruction of the restaurant or just more food flying everywhere. Sometimes, in very bad cases, Erza steps in to stop them and it ends in not just a little damage to the restaurant but the whole place destroyed. Meaning, Lucy had to pay so or so more. And then the last, every time she had to pay for Natsu and Happy too, since he is mostly knocked out because he annoyed Erza too much or he just run off with Happy because of some reason nobody knows. This leads often to either Gray running after him to not be outdone by him, meaning she had to pay for him too. And of course Erza can't just let them run away, so she runs after them to stop them, letting Lucy behind to pay for her too.

The only one she never had to pay for were Wendy and Carla. They were too nice to do something like that. No, the contrary happened, most times Wendy offered to pay with her but Lucy wouldn't let her, except when she didn't have enough money. She didn't want the poor girl to end like herself, thinking that maybe the rest of the Team would then do this to Wendy too.

The list why she had to pay for at least one of them but often all of them could go on and on but this right now is so different, it feels really good.

One thing that didn't change, the whole table was full with food. But again, contrary, these Dragon Slayers could control themselves and their powers so that they didn't have to eat as much as Natsu always did.

So with all that they had a very peaceful lunch together, well with the exception as Gajeel demanded some Iron and scared their waitress. But still, Lucy can't remember her last time eating in a restaurant with her Team and really enjoying it. Well, she had always fun with them, she can't deny that, but eating together with them outside never ended good for her.

"So, when I remember correctly boss man, you said that Master wants a Team name when we are back to the Guild. Soo... Does anyone have an idea?" "Idea, Idea", the totems chant, with Pappa and Puppu sitting on Lucy's shoulders.

And so the discussion between the males starts.

"Thunders, a new form for Thunder God Tribe." "Oh no, Lightning Rod, I won't be a part of something called that. I won't be compared to your old Team. And I won't accept you so easily as my Leader! How about Iron minds too show our strength. Gihi, and that it has Iron in it makes it even better!" "Oh no! I won't have a name with Iron in it, Iron Shreds!" "Well, I won't have one with Lightning in it, Static Noise!"

Didn't Lucy just think about how nice it is that the males doesn't fight? It seems she was wrong. But at least they only fight with words and not with fists. And hopefully this is the only time this will happen.

"How about Strong Souls to show our inner strength?", Bickslow throws in, interrupting both Slayers in insulting each other. "No!", and they continue insulting.

"So uhm... how about we finish to eat and then continue this discussion somewhere outside? Somewhere where if this leads to a fight nothing will be destroyed? I looked and we should still have two hour before out train departs.", Lucy interrupts the insulting. "Well I looked too Blondie, and what I saw was that we only have forty-five minutes left... But you are right, Blondie, we should stop her before this leads to a fight...", Laxus says the end somewhat embarrassed because he couldn't believe that he really sat here throwing insult after insult at Gajeel, something that that Flame-Brain would normally do with Gray. "You are right, there is a train that leaves then but the train in two hours is an express ride. And I thought that you Slayers would prefer to be for a shorter amount of time in a train with your motion sickne..." "We are taking that train!", Gajeel practically shouts. Lucy only giggles at his response and that Laxus is nodding almost hasty. Who would have thought, even Laxus Dreyar, the one who beat up a Wizard Saint, has such a weakness against transportations.

"I agree with Cosplayer, not that I don't find it amusing to watch you act like Natsu and Gray, I think we shouldn't start to damage everything around us like they do. Don't you think?" Think, Think." "Don't compare me to that Flame-Brain and Popsicle!", Gajeel growls out, while standing up and bashing his hands on the table.

Something Lucy doesn't like to see at all, even more so as she spots the crack this left. "Gajeel, calm down! This instant!", she hisses out. "Oh come one Bunny..." "Gajeel!", Lucy didn't have to say anything else since Laxus shoves Gajeel down in his seat again. "Gajeel, Gajeel.", instantly the three males turn to Lucy and the two totems on her shoulders.

"Did... did... did you just repeat after Cosplayer? Did you betray me? Noooo, my Babies!", Bickslow dramatically wails after overcoming his first shock. And with that he lifts the tense atmosphere at their table. Lucy can only giggle at his dramatic act, something the totems copy again, "Oh Bickslow, maybe they like me better. Isn't that right, Pappa and Puppu?" "Lucy, like!" "Ohh, I like you too little ones!", Lucy takes the totems from her shoulders and cuddles them shortly, whispering, "Go back to your Daddy, we don't want him to be sad." And with that she releases them and they fly back to Bickslow, nuzzling him and then sitting in front of im on the table.

"Daddy, Daddy!" "Alright.. alright... I forgive you, how could I not when you are looking at me like that?", again with the tongue out.

* * *

"Dragon Slayers, Iron and Lightning... Seith Mage... Souls... Celestial Spirit Mage... Stars...", Lucy mumbles to herself while walking up and down in the little park where they currently are.

"The Dragons?", another suggestion from Laxus. "Static Noise, I think we finally can agree on something. Gihi!" "Well as nice as it is that you can finally agree on something, I think it wouldn't be very fair to the rest of our Team wouldn't it? Or what do you think Cosplayer?" "Hmm...? Oh yeah... You Slayers only make half of the Team...", Lucy answers before continuing her mumbling.

"Dragons... Soul... Stars...Celestial... Possession...Heavenly... Roar..."

"Slayers? Gihi" "You know that this isn't better than Dragons, Gajeel..." "I like it, Iron Shreds.", Laxus grins, only to annoy Bickslow.

"Stars... Shooting... Constellations... Zodiac..."

"How about Dragons shining Soul? There is everything included, I think..." this time Bickslow suggests. "Hmm.. Yeah I think this is something we can work with But still, it doesn't sound so good to me. Do you have any suggestions Blondie?". Lucy didn't react at all, mumbling different things to herself only the Slayers could hear when listening closely.

"Celestial Soul Dragons? No, that's kind of boring... Star Soul Dragon? No, this too... Dragons Celestial Soul? A little better..."

"Could you tell the ones who can't hear what she is mumbling? I mean, come on boss man!" "Boss man, boss man." "Well, she is thinking about different names. At first she only listed different words, all with some sort of connection to our magic. Now she is mumbling different Team names but dismisses every idea until now.", Laxus explains.

"Heavenly Soul Dragon? No... Dragons shooting Soul? No, this not... Celestial Dragons Soul? No... Dragons starry Soul? No... Roaring Celestial Soul? No, still doesn't sound right... How about.. Hmm.. That could work!", Lucy stops in her walking and comes back to her Team. By now all of theme were listening to Lucy's mumbling. And they need to say that some of her ideas weren't too bad.

"What do you think about Draco's Soul? Draco is the dragon constellation, so it fits for you Slayers and me. And Soul should be clear.", Lucy asks, excited about her idea, hoping that they would like it.

For a moment everything is quite while the guys truly think about her idea before just saying no to it.

"I like it Blondie, it's short and still includes all of us." "Yeah, I agree with boss man there, Cosplayer." "I guess then from now on we will be named Draco's Soul, Bunny. Gihi!"

"Really? All of you like it?", they all nod, "Then so be it!", she grins at them.

"Say Bunny, the day you came back alone from that mission with your Team.. Why where you so angry?" "I had a fight with Team Natsu because of our mission.. first they practically demand that I take them with me in case that I need help and then all they do is fight, damage the town and well yeah.. I decided to leave them behind after they yet again started another fight and let the bandits escape because they were distracted from their own fight. I had absolutely no problem with finishing this mission but in the meantime they apparently thought that something happened to me. So they started to questioning the villagers and we all know how Erza is like... In the end the whole reward was going to repairs for the town and I almost got kicked out of my apartment because this money was for my rent. Luckily my landlady gave me a few more days when I pay already half for the next month too. So yeah..."

"Uhh.. I often heard your complaining about rent and such but I didn't know that it was this bad, Blondie... I mean I saw the reports and such with sometimes doing paperwork for Gramps but still, you being almost homeless because of your old Teams antics goes way to far. I can assure you that this won't happen on our Team! Especially with us taking S-class missions.", Laxus starts shocked and then at the end smirks at her.

"Make sure that this won't happen, Sparky. Otherwise I might have to beat you up!", Lucy smirks back. "You beating me Blondie? Being a little cocky here?", Laxus raises one eyebrow. But the only reaction he gets is another smirk.

"Uhm... I just remembered, Natsu wanted to speak with Master about me switching to his Team when he heard that I am on your Team. I kicked him and then left, I hope that he got that message but it's Natsu we are speaking about so he may attack you when we enter the Guild. Or demand that you will let me go or some bullshit like that. Or something I could imagine him do, get Erza and Gray to believe I need saving, for Erza it could be enough that I am the only girl, and then attack you all together or just drag me to Master to switch Teams. So be warned! And I really hope that you won't just let them drag me away and switch Teams. So far I like it with this Team, apart from our start... I mean I demanded Master to...", realizing what she was about to say she stops and throws a hand over her mouth as if to stop more words from spilling out.

"You demanded something? And from Master? Bunny, never thought that you had it in yourself.", Gajeel smirks. "Say Cosplayer, what was is that you demanded from Master.", Bickslow raises his eyebrow while still having his tongue out, making such a funny face that Lucy can only answer while laughing, "Sorry but no can do! I promised Master that nobody from the Guild will know. Forget that I said something and just remember my warning, please?" And the males are met with Lucy's puppy eyes, catching them completely off guard.

"I believe we can do that for now Blondie. For now, we might come back later to that. But about your warning, do you really think that they would go this far? ... Wait, okay, you're right. This is your old Team we are speaking about and they are ridiculous overprotective about you..." "Yeah and that is pretty annoying! How should I become stronger when they protect me the whole time? The first two month after the GMG I got so much stronger because I had time to train and to fight on my own on missions...", Lucy rants.

"Wait, Cosplayer, why the first two month after the GMG?" "Well we all had separate special missions, most times only them but I got a few too, and so I had time to train because one or two missions were enough to pay my rent... Oh another thing I just remembered, I know it might be nothing you would normally do with being a S-class mage but Laxus, I hope we can do some missions from the regular board too? If not I could do them alone while you take a breaker at the Guild or so... But there are some missions with Silver Keys as a reward and I would really love to take them and add more family members to my Celestial family... And every Key makes me a little stronger and you never know which Key I will get, it could always be a strong Spirit like Hydra. And even if it isn't a strong Spirit, I or we would still have a new family member and every Spirit has his own special abilities!", Lucy defends her request.

"Hold on Blondie! Why wouldn't I go on missions from the regular board? Especially when it's for a reason like that?", Laxus asks a little confused. Has she such a bad impression from him, that she thinks he wouldn't do something like that for a Team member? That he would let her go alone because he doesn't like the mission? She is on his Team now and as such they support one another!

"I have never seen you take a mission that wasn't S-class... And Natsu never wanted to take these missions, he always wanted the dangerous ones with much fighting. So in fact I didn't really now that there are missions with Keys as reward before I did Solo missions. So you see that my old Team wasn't really interested in helping me get stronger and get more Keys, so I wanted to tell you that it would be okay if you too don't want to take these missions. They are often without much fighting and have fewer Jewels as reward because a Key is included. But I won't let you or someone else stop me from getting more Keys!", she answers him, somewhat sad in the middle part as she recounts that her old Team never really helped her, but then gains more confidence.

"Woah, stop there Blondie! I say it again, we are nothing like your old Team. We should get enough money from the S-class missions so that should be no problem." "Yeah, boss man is right. Maybe we can do it like we did it in The Thunder God Tribe, everyone can choose a mission. Like rotating or just suggest a mission and then we decide together which one we will take.", Bickslow adds complete serious for once.

He really doesn't like what he is hearing about how Cosplayer was treated in her old Team. How could she tolerate it this long? He promises himself that he would never let it come this far. Yes, he knows that they all doesn't really know each other but he hopes that they will get to know each other better over the time as a Team. Especially Lucy he always wanted to get to now better and this might he his chance.

Laxus and Gajeel are equally shocked as Bickslow. Both having similar thoughts as him.

* * *

They arrive back in Magnolia around 5 PM and decide to go to the Guild first and tell Master their new Team name and report the mission.

Opening the Guild door they are greeted with Team Natsu, apart from Wendy, ready to attack, just like Lucy predicted.

The next instant Lucy stands in front of her new Team, eyes almost glowing golden-orange, hands on her whip and case with the Regulus Magic threatening to form. She is barely able to control her instincts and stopping the Link from fully activating. But she knows, if her old Team should really attack there is no guarantee for her to stop the instincts from taking over and attacking them in an attempt to protect her new Team, her new pack. Pack, this is what her instincts told here were the Mages behind her, and she must always protect her pack, no matter what! She doesn't really understands this but knows she can trust her new instants with this.

She growls lowly, daring her old Team to attack. Sadly, for them, they didn't hear the warning and still attack.

"What did you do to Lucy?!" "I will avenge Lucy and her maidenhood!" "What did you pervs do with my little sister?!"

They charge at them together. Erza to Laxus, Gray to Bickslow and Natsu to Gajeel.

But they never reached their targets.

Lucy's instincts took completely over, telling her to protect the three behind her. And this is what she does.

She wraps her whip around Natsu and tosses him at Gray. Next is Erza, who is completely blind to anything else than Laxus. On instinct Lucy drops to the ground to avoid the swords, makes Erza stumble, comes up again immediately and proceeds to hit Erza one time with a Regulus infused fist.

The whole Guild is quiet, everyone waiting for what will happen next.

"What is wrong with you?! Attacking my new Team as soon as we enter the Guild without any reason! They did nothing that would justify such a behavior! And this is exactly why I'm happy that I am no longer on a Team with you!", with that she angrily stomps through the Guild up the stairs to Masters office.


	12. Chapter 12

"Good to hear that your mission succeeded after Lucy arrived to help you!", Master grins at the new Team, then his grin turns to a little frown, "But Laxus, my boy, you should take better care of your Com! You had me really worried there! And next time, don't just storm into a fight! You should know better than that!", he scolds his grandson who already looks down with regret in his eyes.

"Yeah I know Gramps, sorry about that... I guess I'm so used to Freed doing these kind of things that I haven't really thought about it..." Laxus admits, eyes still downcast. "Don't worry, just remember that for the future. I already predicted that these kind of things would happen on the first mission with the new Teams, that's why I wanted all of them to stay hear and get to know themselves better. Well, can't change that anymore. Maybe you should go down an speak a little in your new group before taking the next mission.", Master suggests.

They nod and turn around to go back in the Guildhall. "Oh and Lucy my dear? I am really proud of you! Your work was excellent!" "Thank you, Master!", a happy grin and blush is seen on her face before she hurries out of his office.

Laxus leads them all down to the bar, having the sudden need for some beer. They all order something to drink and then search for an empty table.

"Oi, Blondie, you never told us how this new Key-Ring of yours stops others from stealing your Keys. Care to explain?", Laxus speaks up to break the rather uncomfortable silence between them. "I could but it would be so much more fun for you too get a demonstration!", she smiles mischievously.

"You know that we probably won't be able to witness something like that on a mission, do you? Or how do you want to demonstrate it, Bunny?" "Well, Natsu has this annoying habit to try and take my Keys when he wants my attention. One time, when I ignored him for a whole day after being mad at him he took my Keys and wanted me to chase him all around to get them back... He found that rather funny, I didn't! Luckily Loke decided to visit shortly after he took my Keys and he promptly helped me to get them back. The day ended for Natsu in a beating from Loke but sadly he didn't learn anything from it and sometimes still tries to take them when I ignore him.", she explains them.

"Wow, just wow. How could you endure your old Team this long? I mean, Cosplayer, come on, from what little I heard they never treated you right or as a real Team member...", Bickslow frowns while staring shocked at her, equally shocked as Laxus and Gajeel.

"To be honest, I don't really know... Most of these things I only really realized after the GMG, when I was alone and able to do things on my own and had time to think. And uhh... other reasons but I think they maybe would be a little to personal to discuss here in the Guild and I'm not sure if we know each other good enough for that... Maybe in the future when we have worked together for sometime and know each other better!", she smiles at them.

"Luuuce! Come sit with us!", Natsu winks to her from his table with Erza and Gray. Lucy of course ignores him.

"Maybe your right with that, Bunny. So what should we do now?" "How about.."

"Luce! We..", Lucy interrupts him with a glare, "Don't you see that I am talking with my new Team right now, Natsu?!"

"So what I wanted to sug.."

"New Team? So you will stay with them? I already told you that we can make Master switch you to my Team, don't worry Luce!"

Again Lucy can only gape at his stupidity, her new Team turned to glare at the approaching Natsu.

"Natsu, I don't wan.." "Come on, we can go up to Master and speak with him right now!", Natsu grabs her hand to pull her after him up to Masters office.

"Natsu!", Lucy rams her feet to the ground to stop him from getting any further, "I thought that my Kick the last time you suggested this was understandable but I will say it now and only once! I will not speak with Master to switch Teams! This is the Team I got and why should I be an exception? Furthermore, I like this Team, maybe that will change in the future but right now I am rather on a Team with them than with you!" With that she turns around to sit back down with her Team who were about to stand up and get her back, just like they promised her.

You could practically see the stream that is coming of Lucy in her anger.

"So, uhh, Cosplayer. What did you want to suggest we do now?", Bickslow asks, hoping to distract her. "Oh! I almost forgot! How about we train together? That way we can see what the others can do. I don't know if you are aware of it but because of my magic I am a pretty good tactician, even though my old Team never listened to my plans with Natsu always rushing to the fight as soon as he spots his enemy. So it would be very helpful for me to see what you can do and such, and you too should see what me and my Spirits are capable of. So that we can figure out how we will work best together", Lucy answers him with a smile.

"This idea isn't as bad as I thought it would be, Blondie.", Laxus smirks at her. He only wanted to tease her a little. "Oi Laxus! Wha...", Lucy's protest is stopped by Laxus laughter, "I was just joking, Blondie! But really, I think that is a pretty good idea. Speaking about training, will you do more links with the constellations? I don't know how hard it is to make them but what little I have seen if just this one link is really great and useful. I am wondering what would fighting with you be link with more of these links from different constellations. From little I know about your magic I know that each Spirit has different abilities. So with you having different links I can only assume that I would be like fighting against a Mage who has more than one magic...", Laxus muses more to himself.

"You know Sparky, I haven't really thought about this with all that is going on. But of course I will more links! I can't say how hard this will be, this always depends on the constellation I want to build the link to. But I can tell you that Gold Keys are harder than Silver Keys. If Capricorn agrees to it, you could watch be. But you would have to be quiet, so maybe it would be pretty boring for you."

"Let's just ask this Spirit of yours and then we can still decide if we want to watch or not, Bunny. When do we want to start with our training?"

This is the moment that Natsu finally wakes up from his freeze and stalks back to them, "Yo Lucy, what is so great about them? I will show you that I am better! Laxus, Gajeel! Fight me!"

The whole table ignores him, pretty annoyed with him.

Seeing that this didn't have the affect he hoped for Natsu tries something else, "Luce, come on... We were a Team since you joined! Will you just give this up for a new Team?" Again no response.

Slowly Natsu is becoming really angry, not at all linking that Lucy ignores him. It seems as if she isn't even listening to him! So he does what he does most of the time when he wants her to listen to him, he went to takes her Keys from her.

Unlike the other times Lucy stays calmly in her seat, agitating Natsu even further, he hoped with just this motion she will speak with him before he even has her Keys. But this doesn't happen, so he grabs her Keys and turns to walk away.

"Watch closely!", Lucy speaks up before turning to watch Natsu, she herself was curious how long it would take for the poison to render him motionless.

And only a few steps away from them Natsu stops, not moving at all. A second later her Keys are back in her hands, she clips them back on her belt and stands up.

"How about we look for a place to train and then start tomorrow?", Lucy asks while moving in front of Natsu to watch him closely. She still wants to know how long this poison effects him.

"Let's do just that, I want to get out of here anyways.", Gajeel is the first to respond. The guys move so that they are standing behind her, observing Natsu closely to confirm that him taking the Keys makes him complete motionless.

Just as they all stand behind her Natsu starts to move again, at first only a finger twitches but then slowly the rest of his body obeys him again.

Seeing the first movement from him Lucy turns around to walk out of the Guild but then turns around again shortly before he has complete control over his body again.

"This is for annoying me, practically insulting my new Team, Draco's Soul, and attempting to take my Keys!", and thus Natsu was once again flying through the Guild, crashing into a wall yet again.

* * *

"Princess, I have breakfast ready and your clothes already ready in the bathroom. Big brother asked me to tell you that he would love it to jog with you to your training grounds with your new Team. Capricorn said to tell you that it would be alright with him to start with the next link this night and that your new Team can watch as long as they do not disturb you. He says that you should think about which constellation you want to try next but he too said that this time it should be a Silver Key. Punishment for waking you up, Princess?", these are the words with which Lucy is awoken the next morning. In response to them she only groans and rolls on her other side, laying for a few more minutes in her soft bed trying to hold the rest of her sweet dream a little longer.

Virgo had already disappeared back in the kitchen, knowing that Lucy will stand up in the next few minutes as she always does.

Arriving in her bathroom while still rubbing her eyes Lucy quickly jumps into the shower, knowing that tonight she will take and need a long and relaxing bath. So now instead she just gets ready rather fast to be at their new found clearing on time.

While under the shower she recalls the events from the prior day, starting with her old Team attacking her new, Natsu still wanting her to change Teams and then the search for a big enough clearing in the forest so that they can train together.

The thoughts about Natsu and her old Team she vehemently shows to the back of her mind, not wanting to think about all this at the moment.

The other thoughts are much more appealing. The search was fun. They had fun together, even tough at the beginning and sometimes in-between it was a little awkward. But that was to be expected, after all beside Bickslow and Laxus none of them had spent much time together before. They are all still in this phase were they get to know each other better day by day and learning to trust each other.

And that is exactly why Lucy proposed this idea of training together. They don't know enough about each other to know how they should act in a future mission. Especially Lucy with her tactical brain wants to know what the other are capable of to know how to plan future attacks and such.

Lucy also hopes that this will help to break the awkwardness between the, after all she really hopes to become good friends with them.

Remembering yesterday and how much she spoke with Bickslow because of his Babies, she really has no concerns that they will become great friends. It's easy to talk with him, even though sometimes his jokes may be a little too perverse for her taste. She just hopes that she won't fall victim to one of his pranks, well but of she did she would just have to give that favor back to him.

With Gajeel she didn't speak too much but that is just the way he is. She knows that she gets along with him well, after all they have spend enough time together because of Levy.

The only one that concerns her a little is Laxus... Not because he was somewhat unfriendly, apart from the moments they had on their previous mission, but she just has the feeling that he is hard to get to know better. The feeling that it's hard for him to open up to new people something she can understand and respect. But that won't hinder her from trying. And he was kind enough while speaking with her and reassuring her that the things won't be as they were in her old Team. Especially his reassurance that he has nothing against taking smaller and easier mission to get her new Keys made her heart flare with happiness.

And so Lucy comes out of her bathroom with a bright smile and twinkling eyes.

After her breakfast Lucy tells Virgo that she will accept Loke's offer to jog with him and only a few minutes later her trustworthy lion appears on his own magic, so that she has all her magic during her training with the others.

This clearing is a little farther away that her normal place where she trains, but since she normally continues to jog a little longer after arriving at her normal place she has no problems to job all the way to this clearing with out being exhausted. Arriving there she can only laugh when remembering how exhausted she was in the beginning of their training when only jogging to the clearing.

Looking around Lucy realizes that she is the first to arrive and so starts with some exercises to warm up her muscles.

The first to arrive after her is Laxus, who arrives as she starts with some stretching. And instead of greeting her or letting her in another way know that he is there he watches her. He watches as she moves in these tight leggings and top, how her body moves and sees the muscles working. He probably would have watched for longer if he didn't hear Bickslow approaching and before someone can caught him while he eyes her he walks further into the clearing and speaks up.

"Morning, Blondie!" "Morning, Sparky! How are you?", Lucy answers him after spinning around to him startled.

"Fine enough. I see you have already started with training?", he raises his right eyebrow.

"I always start my training with jogging from my apartment to my training grounds, so I thought why should I change this today. And seeing as I was the first I just started my regular workout. Something wrong with it?", she questions.

"No, no. Absolutely nothing wrong about that. I did that too, but now that I have my own house in this forest and a training place just beside it I really don't need to anymore. And I didn't think about doing it now..." "You have a house here in the forest? That must be wonderful!", Lucy interrupts him with a dreamy look in her eyes.

Before Laxus has the chance to answer her Bickslow arrives, "Yo, boss man, Cosplayer!" Laxus gives his usual grunt as reply.

"Hello Bickslow! And hello my sweet little cuties!", Lucy greets and the next moment Bickslow's totems are already circling around her, nudging her in greeting before settling down on her palms, shoulders and head. Lucy grins brightly and giggles about Bickslow's yet again shocked face.

Shortly after that Gajeel arrives and the training can start.

* * *

 **So... uh.. sorry that this took me again so long. Even longer because I forgot that I didn't have the time to finish this Chapter and so didn't post it. Originally I wanted it to be longer but well I didn't want to let you wait any longer.**

 **And don't worry this situation between Lucy and her old Team may seem a little too much, especially that with Natsu (I didn't want it like this but this is how it ended and yeah..) but it won't be like this for ever. Now she is just angry with them and it helps her to accept her new Team more. (Otherwise I normally could never imagine Lucy leaving her Team and just accepting a new one, after all she loves them and they are her first friends!)**

 **I know normally Lucy is a forgiving person but should she stay mad at them a little longer so that they really realize their mistakes or just forgive them like she apparently does with everyone so easily after her anger dissipates?**

 **Hopefully you had fun reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Wahh, I'm so super sorry that this took me so long to update. For that you got a longer Chapter than originally planned.**

 **It's just that a few things happened that stopped me from updating earlier... Two times a part of this Chapter was suddenly gone and I needed to rewrite it and then I couldn't decide which link to do next.**

 **And then there is the other more personal reason. You may remember when I told you that I had less time to write because of my exams? And that I would have more time after that?**

 **Well I did have a lot of time but I failed on of my exam (the most important one) and it wasn't clear if I'm going to be able to continue studying or if I need to find something new. So while I did have a lot of time I just couldn't concentrate enough to really write with all these thoughts spinning through my head. But a few days ago I got the message that my request got approved and I am now able to continue studying. So happy end for me (for now) and I finally have my head free enough to write again.**

 **But lets stop with this depressing thoughts and continue reading and writing.**

 **Have fun reading and await my hopefully faster updates from now on!**

* * *

"So before we start with our training I have something to tell you. Capricorn gave his permission for you to watch me make my next link as long as you won't disturb me while doing so. Furthermore he said that we can do it this evening, it must be late enough for the stars to be seen.", Lucy tells her new Team as they are warming up to start the training, something she doesn't need to do anymore.

"That was a fast decision, Bunny. Gihi!", Gajeel grins from his place.

"And which one will be you next link, Blondie?"

"Well, Sparky, that is the thing, I don't know. Capricorn only told me that we can do a link to a Silver Key, or more precise to a constellation with a Silver Key, today and that I need to decide which one I want to try. So I need to decide before the stars are out... maybe you want to help me decide?", Lucy questions.

"Again this ridiculous nickname!", Laxus grumbles to himself before speaking louder, "I don't know if we will be of much help with helping you decide for one constellation, after all we probably don't know enough about the different constellations and their abilities but we could try..."

"Yeah, Cosplayer, we can try but boss man is right, we don't know enough about all the constellations there are. I mean, I for one doesn't even know all the abilities your own Spirits have, and even there more about the Gold ones than the Silver ones I believe. But like boss man said, we can try... Do you have some ideas already?", Bickslow is the next one to speak up while stretching.

"I wanted to start with the constellation of a Silver Key I have, since I believe that it's easier to build a connection to a constellation when I already have a connection to the Spirit. And about the abilities, I can tell you during lunch about them. But even if you know them, you never know what exactly the ability I will gain will be. There are a los of possibilities. But now let's start with the training!", Lucy explains and then gets excited with the thoughts about their upcoming training.

And with that their training starts.

They start with just showing and explaining what exactly they can do. Well not all of their abilities that would be too much for now, and would take away the surprise during their battles.

And for Lucy there is the factor that she just can't call out all her Spirits just to show their abilities, that would take way too much magic, especially when they still want to fight later. So for today she will start with Loke and Virgo. Maybe switching later during the battles.

First they start with simple hand-to-hand combat without the use of their magic. The loser is the one who first lays on the ground.

Laxus and Gajeel are the first, with Lucy and Bickslow observing. At first it seems as if they are evenly matched but after sometime it becomes clear that Laxus is better and stronger than Gajeel. So even though Gajeel can land a few powerful hits himself, mostly he is the one to get hit. You wouldn't think so but Laxus is astonishingly agile and quick on his feet.

In the end it didn't take very long before Gajeel lays defeated on the floor.

Next are Lucy and Bickslow. This time Laxus and Gajeel are the ones to observe.

This is more a fight of speed than strength, with Lucy being smaller and faster and Bickslow's amazing agility. The moment Bickslow moves to hit Lucy, she already dodges while at the same time trying to swipe away his feet. Quick reflexes leads to Bickslow doing a cartwheel back, avoiding his defeat. They go back and forth, attacking and dodging at the same time. The fight looking more like a dance than a battle.

But in the end, Bickslow can overpower Lucy, with her only having started to train hand-to-hand combat not too long ago.

After a short break Gajeel and Lucy start their fight.

This one is a little similar to the one between Laxus and Gajeel, but Lucy is lacking the needed strength to really defeat and attack Gajeel. So even though Lucy can avoid many hits with her agility she can't land a lot powerful hits of her own. And strength is definitely something you need to beat a Dragon Slayer, even when they fight without magic. Their bodies are just too resistant.

With this fight being harder for her, it's very hard for Lucy to control her instincts. The instincts that are screaming at her to activate the link. Lucy tries her best to avoid this, but still, the reason for her being able to dodge so many hits probably are the weakened instincts she has even without the activation.

The moment she is too concentrated on fighting her new instincts Gajeel is able to land one powerful kick, hitting her stomach. Lucy flies back and crashes to the ground, that is the moment she looses control over her instincts.

Her eyes burn in golden-orange and the tattoo at her chest glows.

She jumps back to her feet and attacks Gajeel, who had let his guard down after all he won and the fight was over.

But this was the last straw for Lucy's new instincts. During her fight with Bickslow it, too, was hard to suppress them but with Gajeel it was even harder. And now after letting Bickslow win and Gajeel landing this powerful attack with her ending on the ground, making it two times for her to end on the ground the instincts have enough. The need to show them who is the one who dominates is too strong and all Lucy can think about at the moment.

Gajeel didn't expect anything to happen and even turned away from Lucy, when he hears the growl it was truly too late for him to react. All he can do is turn around and raise his arms protectively. He can see Lucy pouncing and catches he glimpse of her burning eyes before he crashes to the ground with Lucy on top of him, growling ferociously.

Lucy grabs the raised arms in her glowing hands, forcing them away from his face. Only when his arms are safely trapped under her legs he realizes what is happening and tries to fight back, to no avail.

With his arms trapped and Lucy's whole body glowing there is no much he can do. Of course he is stronger than her, but without being able to really move, what could he do without hurting her too much in the process.

Yes, he doesn't want to hurt her, he can remember that Lucy explained that this is new to her and she can't really control her instincts. So in this situation he needs to be the one to control his own, just like Laxus needed to do when he was in this situation.

Something he would never admit out loud is that in this moment he really admires Laxus for being able to suppress his instincts when Lucy did the same to him. He can't help himself and growls right back at Lucy, his fangs bared at her and his eyes turning to slits. Eyes he needs to close when the glow around Lucy intensifies.

Like the time with Laxus, Lucy grabs Gajeel's head to turn his head and bare his neck for her. Something he doesn't like at all, he tries to snap at her and bite her, but with not being able to see it's hard and so Lucy uses her second hand. One hand is still on his jaw, the the his buried in his long hair, pulling said her painfully until he relents his snapping but is still growling at her.

On the sidelines Laxus and Bickslow looks startled at the whole scene in front of them. For Bickslow this is the second time seeing Lucy in this situation but for Laxus it's a first, well first time seeing it and not being the one on the receiving end. Bickslow starts to cackle and Laxus only smirks.

The smirks soon vanishing from his face when Lucy throws a vicious glare at them, followed with a growl. He immediately remembers his own experience with a dominating Lucy and feels with Gajeel, remembering how hard it was for him to suppress his own instincts and to submit to her.

Yeah, he doesn't want that at all to happen again and steps unconsciously back, all thoughts of perhaps helping Gajeel stop.

Bickslow is having similar thoughts to Laxus, his cackling stopped with the glare and growl and he never wants to be the one in this situation. He still thinks it's kind of sexy, the pervert he is, but the look in her eyes stopped even these thoughts. He has nothing at all against a little domination in the bed... but this... this is no play. Yeah, no play, but still sexy like nothing he has ever seen before, as long as he ignores the eyes.

With one last warning growl and strong pull on Gajeel's hair, he stops his own growling and bares his neck for her, coming to the same conclusion as Laxus has the last time.

The glow around Lucy slowly dies down until the only glow is coming from her chest. Her hand stops pulling on his hair. She still growls lowly but that lessens little by little and her eyes are golden-orange. She looks down at Gajeel and sees him still in the submissive posture, that leads to a somewhat feral grin over her victory and domination before she completely lets go of him and stands up.

Gajeel, too shocked lays there for a few seconds before he jumps to his own feet, barely holding back is growl and need to attack Lucy.

Still controlled by her instincts, Lucy looks around for any more danger or attempts to challenge her domination, seeing none her instincts finally lessen enough for her to deactivate the link.

"Oh my Stars! I'm so sorry Gajeel! Are you alright? Did I hurt you? It was so hard to control my instincts and the moment you hit me I just wasn't able to hold them back any longer... I'm so so sorry!", Lucy starts in shock and then looks him up and down for any signs of an injury.

"Nah, I'm fine Bunny Girl.", he answers to reassure her, ignoring the stinging on his head where she pulled his hair.

"Oi, Blondie, can't remember you fussing over me like that... Metal Face is fine... Kind of our fault any way for forgetting that you are still learning how to control these new instincts.", Laxus grumbles.

"Say, Cosplayer, during our fight, did you have the same troubles? And if not, do you have an idea why you lost it now and not while fighting me?", Bickslow asks curious.

At this Lucy stills to think about it, "Well, yes, it too was hard fighting these instincts in our fight but with Gajeel it was much harder. I can only guess but maybe it has something to do with the Dragon Slayer Magic. We all know that Slayers are normally the dominating ones, and as such he is a bigger threat to my domination. Well that is at least the only explanation I could think of."

"That does make sense, all we can do is wait and see if your assumption is right or not.", Laxus contemplates, "Well for now let's just continue with our Battles. I still need to fight Bickslow and you, Blondie. That will be another chance for you to test your control.", Laxus smirks.

And so the fight between Laxus and Bickslow starts, to the luck of Laxus. His declaration to fight her and to control her instincts set them once again raging.

The fight between Bickslow and Laxus is similar to the one between Lucy and Gajeel. And you can clearly see that these two have already fought one another often in former training sessions.

Again Laxus is the winner.

A short break later, Lucy and Laxus start the last battle without magic.

In the beginning it was a little easier for Lucy to control her instincts, but the longer the fight goes on the harder it becomes.

The instincts recognizes Laxus as someone who she already dominated in the past. So in the beginning it was okay for her, seeing as this is only training. But the longer the fight lasts and the harder it becomes for Lucy to dodge or land her own hits the harder it becomes to control her instincts. Instincts that now deem Laxus as a challenger to her domination, even if that is not Laxus intention.

Laxus of course notices that her eyes begin to flicker between her normal color and the golden-orange and that the tattoo on her chest emits a soft glow from time to time. But his goal is to see how long she can hold her control and not to win this battle. He knows that he would be the winner, but came to the conclusion that testing her control is more important.

The moment Laxus sees the switch in Lucy as she loses her control he stops his attacks and raises his hands, showing his surrender, hoping that with this Lucy can reign control again.

And as he hoped, Lucy is able to control her instincts again. He surrendered right on time, a few seconds more and there would have been no other way than to dominate or be dominated once again.

Both Lucy and Laxus stare at one another, waiting if the other will attack or if the fight is really over when Bickslow interrupts the staring contest, "Yo boss man, Cosplayer, how about lunch? Should we go to the Guild to eat something or somewhere in Magnolia?"

"Princess, I took the liberty to prepare lunch for you and your Team mates. Do I need punishment?", Virgo appears directly beside Bickslow, making him jump in fright, with two baskets in her hands.

Bickslow's jump is the final straw to break the tension between Lucy and Laxus, both now laughing.

Bickslow pouts after calming down and mutters a "Not funny, Cosplayer!" but he is ignored. "Thanks Virgo, I really appreciate it. And no, no punishment.", Lucy answers her Spirits between laughter. Virgo sets the baskets down and spreads out a blanket for them to sit on. Next she places the different foods and drinks in the middle, before vanishing with a last bow to Lucy.

Lucy is the first to sit down and immediately realizes that the blanket is made from Aries wool. The moment she realizes this, all she wants to down is lay down and snuggle further into the blanket, instead she reaches for her Keys to send Aries her thanks through her Key.

The other three sit down and they start to eat. After the first hunger is sated Lucy begins to tell them about her Silver Keys and their different abilities. She starts with the Spirits she can't call during a fight, meaning the companion Spirits like Plue. Then comes Canes Venatici with their enhanced senses and tracking magic. Aquila and his lightning. Scutum with the shield-magic. And as last Hydra with the different elements per head and their high durability because of their hard skin.

"How about you make a first decision with the Spirits you think are best and then we can give you our opinion on these Spirits and the possible ability you could gain, Bunny Girl?", Gajeel suggests with Bickslow and Laxus nodding their approval.

"Alright, hmm... I do believe that I could gain a useful ability from my companion Spirits but I think that's not where I should start. I mean Pyxis probably would give me some sort of sense for directions, but then I wouldn't have to call Pyxis anymore and that is nothing I want to do. So for now I would choose between Hydra, Canes Venatici and Aquila. Now it's your time to help me choose!", Lucy smiles at them.

"Lightning!", Laxus is the first to speak up.

"Wow, Static Noise, why did I know that this would be your choice? Gihi. You probably hope to have a magic refill source when Lucy gets the ability to use lightning, making her able to feed to with it. I would say you should decide for the dogs, maybe you get better senses.", Gajeel states his opinion.

"What's wrong with that?! Huh, Metal Face? It would only help us during fights if I can refill my magic containers, I am the strongest here after all... Uh... sorry, that sounded a little too arrogant. I only think it would help us all if you could use lightning magic, either for refilling my magic or to defend yourself.", he somewhat saves himself.

"Uhm, yeah, let's just ignore that for now. But even I thought about the possibility to help you with refilling your magic, that's after all always the last help for Natsu... but let's not talk about that.", Lucy throws in before they end in a fight, once again.

"I for one think you should choose Hydra. I hope that you would get their hard skin, that would greatly help you in close-range fights. A better durability is always a good thing and from what you told us about them, it seems to be pretty hard to hurt them. If not that I would say Canes Venatici, because Gajeel is right, enhanced senses are useful. But with two Dragon Slayers in our Team we already have two with enhanced senses so I would say that is something that can wait for later. As is the lightning. But you should really decide for what you think is the best for you, Cosplayer.", Bickslow offers his own opinion.

And so a little discussion breaks out between the three males. Each one defending their own opinion but in the end Bickslow was the one with the best arguments and reasons to choose Hydra. So Lucy decides to try this link later at night.

Finished with their lunch they resume with their training, now it is magical. They do not fight against each other, instead they have decided to show a few of their spells, to show how much destruction they are able to do. Each one of them shows spells with different strength levels.

Lucy starts, reasoning that this way she would have time to rest and refill her containers a little before her meditation this evening. Like she decided earlier today she only calls Virgo and Loke out.

Loke starts with showing his Lion Brilliance, Lucy explaining how they can use this to blind their opponents. After that he attacks a boulder with Regulus Impact, destroying the stone to pieces and a part of the forest behind the big boulder.

Seeing this Bickslow shudders a little, remembering that this was the attack which defeated him during Fantasia. And even though he can say that this attack wasn't as strong as the one which hit him during that time, he knows that Loke held back to not destroy too much of the forest. "What luck I had that she wasn't this strong back then...", he mutters to himself, forgetting for the moment that the Slayers can understand him. "What do you mean Bickslow?", Laxus asks curious, having never known how exactly it was that the blonde defeated his friend back then.

"Nothing wrong, just remembering getting hit with this attack, or more with both of these attacks.", he answers unwillingly. "Ohh, I forgot, during Fantasia... I warn you Laxus, don't think bad about yourself only because we speak about it..", Lucy sends him a glare, seeing how is face darkens with self-hate for a moment, "I have forgiven you long ago, as has the rest of the Guild, so get over it! Well as I wanted to say, during that time Loke used this combination to help me defeat Bickslow. First the Lion Brilliance to blind him, then me binding him with my whip and the Regulus Impact defeated him. Though back then Loke hit him harder than now this boulder...", she confirms Bickslow's thoughts.

"Ohh.. so that's how you did it.. He never wanted to tell us.", Laxus tells her. "Yeah... Yeah... But you can see yourself what power there is behind this attack. But that aside, we should continue..", he tries to distract them from him.

"He's right. Thanks Loke, I think we are finished with you for now.", Lucy smiles brightly at her Spirit before sending him back.

With Virgo they test out if the Slayers can sense or hear her while she is being in the earth and from what depth they aren't longer able to detect her. To their surprise it's really hard for them to detect her underground. Lucy explains them that the reason for that might be that the earth dampens her sounds and smell. Furthermore she demonstrates her Spica Lock on Bickslow's Babies, who have a hard time freeing themselves from this lock, showing them that this lock is really nothing they should look down on.

And that was the moment when Bickslow starts to show his different moves. His Babies breaking out with Baryon Formation, which of course the others couldn't really see because they were still inside the lock. But this was the force needed to break out. Of course, he too, didn't use his full strength during this attack. He shows them a few more formation and explains when which is best used. Another thing he shows them is how he is able to fly with them and how flexible he is while doing so.

Next Laxus, who shows them a little of his different Dragon Slayer attacks. Like his Iron fist, destroying a huge boulder like Loke did before along with a bigger part of the forest. But he like the others before didn't use his full strength, knowing full well that this kind of training is no excuse to just destroy the forest. So instead of showing them another even more powerful attack he shows them how he travels with lightning and how fast he is.

"Say, Laxus, can you take others with you while traveling like that?", Lucy asks curiously. "Yes, I can but it costs more magic and not every mage likes this sort of transportation. Especially after the first time traveling with me they often get a little sick. And Gajeel, as example, I would only take with me if there is no other way and it is an emergency. His kind of magic would probably react badly with my lightning and hurt him..." "Oh, oh, can you take me with you? I want to try it! It looks so exciting!", Lucy interrupts him and stares up at him with shining stars in her eyes.

"Oi, Blondie, calm down, will ya? Remember that I said that most get sick after their first time? Do you want to get sick before starting with your meditation?", he blocks her excitement, a little shocked over her enthusiasm to travel with him. Never before had he met someone who wanted to try it out, most only traveled with him when there was no other option. Seeing her dejected face he quickly speaks up again, "But we could do it another time, when you still want?" "Yes, I would really love that!", and back were the stars in her eyes, making a red hue appear on Laxus face. Luckily, for him, nobody noticed that.

Last to show a little of his magic is Gajeel, he makes the same first attack as Laxus. And then shows them his Scales, demonstrating how this powers up his physical attacks and let Laxus punch him one time to demonstrate his increased defense. This results in a hurting fist for Laxus, since he punched him without magic.

* * *

After a little more training and then going back to town to eat dinner together they are now back to the clearing to watch Lucy making her new link.

"Just for you to remember, please stay quiet and don't interrupt me while I'm meditating. And if it get's to boring or something like that you can always go home. There is really no need for you to stay here if it doesn't is something you like to watch."

"Alright Blondie, I think you've told us often enough already." "Yeah, Bunny Girl, start already!" "Show us some magic, Cosplayer!"

And that is exactly what she does. She calls out Capricorn to help her and tells him her decision. Then she sits down comfortable with the guys sitting down a little away from her, so they can still quietly talk among them without disturbing her.

Closing her eyes, Lucy reaches for her magic building up the connection to the stars above her once again. Having done this a few times already she is able to feel them faster then before and for a moment relishes in the feeling.

The magic pressure around her increases steadily along with the air whipping around her more strongly, reaching the guys. It grows and grows while Lucy searches for Hydra's constellation and leading her sole focus on these stars.

The more magic she releases on her search the bigger get the eyes of her three observers. They being once again shocked with how much magic she has inside of her.

Having found Hydra, she ignores all other stars and starts to build up a stronger connection. She can feel the different elements the have and their strength. The connection all seven heads have even though the fight all the time and are so different. It's truly a beautiful feeling for her.

Thinking that she has a deep enough connection with the constellation she begins to pull their magic inside of her. She pulls more and more of this magic inside of her, wanting to complete the link today. It feels completely different from the magic she gained from Leo. This is more calm and protective, she feels saver as if there was something protecting her.

After a while a spot a little over her other tattoo on her chest starts to glow, a silver glow. The glow gets brighter and brighter until the three males need to close their eyes with an added arm to protect them even more.

Faster than the last time when she build up a link she came to the point where the magic just flowed right into her as if it belonged there. Reaching this point she unconsciously started to use the magic.

Capricorn and her Team mates watches as her skin gains a slight black shine. Capricorn, who is the closest to her, is able to identify this black shine as black shining scales which are appearing all over her skin. Seeing this he immediately realizes that Lucy really got the ability she or they hoped for. These scales should protect her against physical attacks, to some degree even against magical ones.

As she slowly stops her meditation the magic pressure around her slowly lessens, along with the wind becoming slower and slower. Having stopped her meditation completely she falls back and gazes up to the stars while regaining her breath, only now realizing how exhausting this was.

The first to reach her are Bickslow's Babies, they sit down on her stomach, all waiting for her to speak again. Somehow knowing that they should give her a little more time. Reaching up with both her hands she pets all of them before turning her head to look first at Capricorn and then one after another the rest.

"Miss Lucy, from what I have seen you got your wished ability in gaining scales along your skin which will protect you against attacks of different forms. I know that you probably want to try it out but I say you should wait until tomorrow. I can feel how exhausted you are.", Capricorn suggests. At this Lucy pouts but looking inside of her, she realizes that he is right and that her magic levels are rather low.

"Yo, Bunny, you alright there?", Gajeel asks as he along with the others sits down around her. "Yeah, only exhausted. I didn't realize how much magic I already used today and this kind of meditation is even more exhausting compared to the normal kind.", she answers him, still laying on the floor.

"Your Spirit is right Blondie, you should stop for today. We can try this out tomorrow... That is if you want us being there?", Laxus speaks up. "Of course I want you there! I mean you have watched me building this link, so you should be the first ones to see this. How about we meet at the Guild for breakfast? We can try this out at the back and then after that see what else we could do? Or maybe you want to spend some time with your other friends?", she asks a little insecure, having for a moment forgotten that they all have other friends that this new Team. But still hoping that they would want to do something with her, with her still not having the nerve to deal with her old Team.

"Sounds great, Cosplayer! Breakfast and then you showing us your new magic, after that we can still decide what to do. We could hang out with Ever and Freed, how about it boss man? And I'm sure Freed would freak out when you tell him about your new magic, Cosplayer.", Bickslow adds as an afterthought, seeing Lucy's face fall a little.

"Fine with me, but first let's get Blondie here home. She looks as if she would fall asleep any moment.", Laxus agrees.


	14. Chapter 14

**So, so sorry that this took me so long!  
** **I can't even really explain why it took me this long. I constantly thought about my stories. But something always stopped me from writing. First it was my hurt mother (she was a long time at home and I spent a lot of time watching series with her) and then the time for learning started again...**

 **I can only say that I'm super sorry and that I hope that you will continue reading my stories.**

 **I hope you all like this Chapter and that from now on it won't take me so lange to update again.**

 **Tell me what you think.**

 **Much love and enjoy!**

* * *

Waking up the next morning in her bed Lucy tries to remember how she got there, but nothing comes to her mind. She tries to remember a little longer, while doing some stretches, before deciding that it doesn't really matter and that she was probably just too tired to remember. But what she does remember is their agreement to have breakfast together, so she takes a quick shower hoping that she wouldn't be too late.

Standing in front of her mirror after her shower she admires her new tattoo, really liking how they show even more her connection to her loved stars. Again remembering the promise for breakfast she grabs some clothes and dries her hair with her towel. After that she attaches her Keys und whip to her belt before leaving her apartment. On her way to the Guild she calls out Plue like she always does and hums a happy tune.

"Yo, Cosplayer, thought you'd never come. We were about to start with breakfast and sending one of my Babies to get you.", Bickslow greets her the moment she enters the Guild.

"Morning, yeah, it seems like I used up way more magic than I thought... I can't even remember how I got home...", Lucy trails off, sending a confused look their way. She notices the glances they shot each other but no one seems to want to answer her instead Laxus speaks up, "Come on Blondie, sit down, lets eat." She sends them one more questioning look but realizes quickly that they intend to ignore her question. Seeing as she has no other option she huffs once and then sits down beside Laxus.

The silence around the table is a little awkward and so Gajeel speaks up, hoping to break the tension that started after Lucy asked how she got home, "So, we're still going to test out your new link after this, Bunny?"

Lucy nods to answer him before her eyes slide shut and a little delighted moan escapes her lips, she just took her first bite from her strawberry pancake with dark chocolate and strawberry sauce on top. The silence that follows is of a different kind, the three males gulp before focusing back on their own food. Lucy doesn't notice what she just did, only wondering once again why they react the way they did. She glances at each of them, noticing their complete focus on their food before shrugging and then turning back to her own food, letting out another little moan when the delicious combination of dark chocolate and strawberry hits her tongue.

* * *

"So, how are we gonna do this? You activate your link and we get to hit you?", Gajeel smirks at the blonde in front of him, the teasing tone showing that he is only joking.

"Hmm, yes, I think that will work.", Lucy grins back with a glint in her eyes that shows that she means it, that she really is expecting them to hit her to test her new magic ability.

That of course shocks the other three a little. Just hitting her to test something is something completely different in comparison to hitting her during a spar. "You sure, Blondie?"

"Well, do you have an better idea to find out what exactly happens when I activate that link? I mean we assume that my skin hardens because of the dark scales that appeared but who know if that really is what happens? And if that is what happens, how much damage can they save me from? And can I control where exactly they appear? You know like, could I, for example, concentrate them on my fist so that my hits hurt more? I mean, if you don't want to do that we can search for another way to find out. And you can start with light punches and I tell you what I feel. Maybe it will even hurt you more because of the scales.", she smirks that last at them to lighten the mood.

Not only to lighten the mood but too hide that she is touched. It seems as if these normally so hard men doesn't want to hurt her, something she finds rather endearing.

"Can't we make some sort of spar out of it? Only that we just focus on Cosplayer's defense, one is fighting while the attacks are getting stronger and stronger. With that we not only test the new link, but also help her to improve her defense.", the last he says directly to the Slayers, giving them all an out from just hitting the blonde.

A quick glance between them shows that everyone is more than okay with that plan, Lucy having never anything against a chance to improve her defense, and the males happy that they don't have to just hit her.

They decide that Bickslow will start, then Gajeel, who will test her with his own scales, and as last Laxus, who will use his lightning. With that they will not only test her scales against pure strength, but also against magic.

After finding a suitable place for their spars behind the Guild, a place where nobody else can watch them without them knowing, they start.

Lucy takes a deep breath and searches for her magic and the new magic link. The Lion in her, or more the new instincts, is not really okay with a fight where she doesn't fight back.

The other three observe as a silver glow starts to emit from her chest and slowly her skin gains a black shiny hue. But they notice too, that her other tattoo flickers golden along with her eyes. It takes several minutes bis only the silver glow remains and every visible part of her skin is covered in black, shiny scales. The scales so small that it looks as if her skin is colored.

"I think I'm ready now, hopefully my instincts won't take over at some point.", Lucy states the moment she thinks that she has her instincts under control, but she can still clearly feel the Lion lurking inside her just below the surface.

Laxus smirks, "Well that just gives us another chance to help you learn to control them."

Bickslow and Lucy step a few steps away from the other two and start their spar, Lucy only blocking with Bickslow trying to hit her from different angles.

"Come on Bixy, is that all?", Lucy taunts him after a few minutes, she has noticed that even though he seems to increase the power of his blows, it doesn't seem like he really uses much of his power. Instead of answering her Bickslow concentrates harder on his attacks, trying to hit her on different parts of her body. What Lucy didn't realize was that even before he increased his hits he was already hitting her rather hard, not as hard as he would in a real fight but hard nonetheless. And he slowly notices that his hands start to hurt whenever they connect with her.

With his intensified attack, Lucy has more and more problems defending herself, so it makes her even happier that his blows doesn't seem to hurt so much. Another problem that arises is that the more problems she has to defend herself the harder it gets to control the instincts that want to take over.

Bickslow, with his sole concentration on his offense, doesn't notice as her eyes once again begin to flicker between colors or that her chest starts to emit a second glow, a golden one. Gajeel and Laxus doesn't notice this either, they both concentrated on Lucy's defense, they want to be able to tell her afterwards how she fought and what she can improve.

It takes only one missed attack and already in the next moment Bickslow, who hadn't even had a chance to defend himself, lays on his back with Lucy on top of him.

"Oh shit, Bickslow!", Laxus calls out in his shock. That got him a threatening glare and growl from Lucy, her eyes once again flashing in that golden-orange shade. Gajeel who had taken one step forward, goes back a little, registering the warning. Aside from that he likes the idea that Bickslow now, too, gets to know how it feels to be dominated by the blonde woman.

Bickslow doesn't really know how to react. On the one hand, he is a man who doesn't let anyone tell him how to behave and he doesn't let himself be oppressed or dominated, apart from the bed where he has nothing against it every now and then, he briefly shoots through his head. On the other hand he knows from experience that sometimes you have to subjugate yourself, he already knows this from Laxus who was the Alpha until now. Something about that thought rings something inside of him but he has no real chance to further think about it, because Lucy directs a growl directly at him, waiting for him to subdue. He hesitates only seconds before he bares his neck to her, remembering that this was what Lucy forced the Slayers to do.

The Lion in Lucy is pleased with how fast Bickslow subdued and her lips turn upwards into a victorious smirk. She stands and helps him up, link still activated but reassured in the position as Alpha in the pack, she and the Lion in her relax.

"Someone gave up rather fast. Gihi!" A warning glance from Lucy stops his laugh and prevents Laxus from adding something.

"I'm just smarter than you Iron Head.", Bickslow grins from his position beside Lucy, enjoying that one glance from Lucy, he noticed it, is able to shut up the big, bad Dragon Slayers.

Before either of the males can say anything else that could lead to a fight Lucy deactivates both links and turns to Bickslow to apologize. He only grins at her and wags his tongue at her, showing her that everything is alright.

"How about a short break before we continue with Gajeel? I mean, if you want to continue, Cosplayer? How much did you feel anyway? I can only say, that from how my hands are feeling, that skin is rather hard and it hurts to hit against it.", Bickslow looks down at his hands and notices for the first time that there is a little bit of blood on his knuckles.

Following Bickslow's gaze Laxus notices the tiny wounds and can only think that this is rather impressing. He lets his gaze wander over the blonde in front of him, not finding any bruises or other injuries on her skin. "These scales of yours seem to do their job, Blondie. I can't see any wounds or bruises that would indicate that you were hit only minutes ago. How do you feel? Did you feel a lot during the fight?", Laxus throws in before Lucy can answer Bickslow.

"Well... I did feel it when he hit me but it didn't really hurt that much. At the end of our fight it started to hurt a little but was still bearable. But it didn't feel as if he was hitting me with full force. Did you use all you've got?"

He shakes his head, "Well no, I could hit you harder but the harder I hit you the more hurt my hands. So if someone were to attack during a battle without protecting his hands, it would probably hurt him more than you, at least in the beginning."

"These scales of yours, Bunny, are rather impressive. Of course still not as impressive as my own scales. Gihi!"

"If you say so.. But you know Iron Shreds, this was the first time for Blondie using them. Who knows how much they will improve in the future.", the blonde Slayer smirks at the other.

Lucy, seeing that they're about to break into another fight, speaks up quickly. "I'd be ready to continue. Shall we go at it, Gaj"

"Gaj? Seriously now, Bunny Girl?", he growls at the little blonde, not liking the shortening of his name at all.

"Gaj-chan, better?", she smirks at him, wanting to rile him up a little so that he won't hold himself back as much as Bickslow did.

Instead of answering her, he lets his own scales appear. "Then lets see how much your scales can take."

Lucy steps back and activates her link, this time it's a little easier to only activate the one she wants to. The Lion in her knowing that Gajeel one time already subdued to her, so it's a little easier to not feel threatened in the position as the Alpha.

"Ready, Gaj-chan!"

And so the next spar begins.

This time she feels the hits much faster. And they hurt much more, but are still way more bearable than they normally would without the protection of her scales.

They continue to block and attack, Gajeel with more and more power behind his hits and Lucy slowly but surely feeling more and more pain when getting hit. Each painful blow stirs up the growing need to bring Gajeel down and show him who the Alpha is, it simply can not be that the Alpha let's herself be beaten like this.

Again the color in her eyes begin to flicker, along with the golden glow on her chest. But this time the others pay more attention. Exactly at the moment when her eyes stop constantly changing back and forth between colors the fight is stopped by the shout "Instincts!", coming from Laxus. Gajeel steps instantly back and lowers his arms, showing that he won't attack again. Seeing the gesture Lucy relaxes again and shortly after that her eyes change back to her normal color. This time she only deactivates one link.

"That was a close one. You would have almost ended like me, Gaj-chan.", Bickslow grins at the Iron Slayer and than dances out of the way when he throws a punch at him.

"Come here. Let me hit you! You will not call me Gaj-chan!" Hearing the giggle coming from behind him, he quickly turns around and growls at her. But she only growls back before the giggling starts again. "Nobody calls me that! Not even you, Bunny Girl!"

"Why should I stop? I mean you won't stop calling me Bunny Girl... So it's only fair if I have my own nickname for you!", she pouts at the Slayer. "Like Sparky for our dear, Lightning Slayer over there.", now she grins at the other Slayer, who is still not happy about his nickname.

Cackling Bickslow appears at Lucy's side and slings one arm around her shoulder while his Babies dance around them. "So, as much as I like riling them up, and I love seeing you do it, especially when it ends with you on top of them in this sexy pose, I think we should continue. How about we let Laxus test his lightning against your scales now and then speak about the results over lunch?"

"Sounds good to me. You ready for my lightning, Blondie?", he smirks at her.

"Well, yeah, but maybe lets not spar. Just touch me with your lightning and increase the power bit by bit. Maybe you can try this on different parts of my body...", she trails off the moment she notices the raised eyebrows and suggestive grins from Bickslow and Gajeel and the wide eyes from Laxus. At first she doesn't understand why they look at her like this, that is until her last words fully register and a bright red blush spreads over her face before she hastily continues, "Arms, hands, maybe legs or stomach.", the blush intensifies again. "I mean that is the only way to test out if the scales react differently on different parts of my body. I mean what is if assume that I have the same resistance everywhere and then get hit on my stomach and then, too late, we realize that they're weaker there. Or what is if...", now she rambles.

Pappa and Puppu are the ones that stop her rambling by nuzzling against her cheeks and chanting, "Stay save."

"Ohh, thanks my little ones!", she coos at them and cuddles them back.

That little move lightens up the mood once again, especially seeing the shocked expression on Bickslow's face brings out laughter and smiles.

Not liking that they laugh at him he speaks up, lolling his tongue out while doing so, "Well, how about we start with the touching? If boss man doesn't do it right I can always take over." He suggestively waggles his eyebrows at her, what earns him a Lucy-Kick along with a shout of "Pervert!".

Then she turns around to Laxus and holds her arm out for him, waiting for him to start.

At the beginning she doesn't feel the lightning at all, only sees it dancing at the sport where he touches her. Then she begins to feel a slight tingling sensation, that doesn't change no matter where he touches her. But she realizes rather fast that it takes less time for her to feel it more strongly.

The whole things isn't as awkward as they thought before. Lucy is concentrated on observing her reaction to the lightning and Laxus on maintaining a constant voltage.

"I think that is enough for now... It starts to really hurt.", the moment she speaks up Laxus stops his magic and steps away from her. He had waited for this sometime now, having noticed when she started to have a pained expression on her face.

"Alright. Everything okay so far? Do you want to eat lunch now or wait a little?", he asks, concern laying his tone a little.

"Yeah, everything okay. Just give me a few minutes than we can go eat. If you want to can go inside and order, I'll be right there.", she smiles at them.

Bickslow and Gajeel nod and start to go back, but turn back around when they notice that Laxus isn't with them. "You two go and order lunch for us. I will wait for Blondie here, I want to see if my lightning didn't do more than we see now." They consider this for a minute, not having thought about the possibility that the lightning may have done more damage than they can see but come to the conclusion that if that was the case Laxus is probably the best to handle it. So they nod, turn around again and continue their way to the Guild.

"Thanks Laxus, but really everything is fine. I just need to breath a little and calm down my instincts. It was hard not attacking you... and we doesn't want for you to end up on the ground again, won't we?", she grins at him.

"Me? On the ground? In your dream, Blondie.", the big Slayer smirks at her.

She smirks at him and a full blown smirk appears, "Then was it a dream the last time I subdued you, Sparky? Do we need to repeat it?"

"Don't worry, won't happen again.", he frowns a little at her, but a smirk tucks at the corner of his mouth.

"You never know what happens in the future, Little Spark.", having finished she turns around and begins her way to the Guild.

"Little Spark? Little Spark?! Oh now you did it, Blondie!", a shark-like grin spreads over his lips and a certain glint sparks in his eyes.

That's all the warning she got before he jumps at her.


	15. Chapter 15

Luckily for Lucy even without the link activated she has her lessened instincts protecting her. With them she has just enough time to duck out of the way and avoid Laxus landing on top of her. Still, she wasn't fast enough to completely avoid him. He was able to get one arm around her before he himself crashes to the ground.

Now with Lucy laying on her back, Laxus arm over her stomach holding her down, and Laxus kneeling beside her because he was able to intercept his own fall, Lucy's instincts fully kick in.

One moment Laxus was about to fully held her down and stop any movement and the next he already lays on his own back with Lucy once again straddling him.

And with that Laxus, who in reality only wanted to tease the small blonde a little, has to once again fight in a battle of dominance. He can only roll his eyes at himself for forgetting her instincts this easily.

Thinking about it he isn't so sure himself why he decided to act like that, it seems that the blonde knows exactly what to say to rill him up a little, but still this is not how he would normally react to something like that. Not this playful, even though there is nothing playful about this anymore.

While he thinks about his own stupidity, Lucy has trapped his arms and is now looking down at him. She doesn't take any further actions to dominate the male under her since he doesn't fight against her hold, too caught up in his own thoughts.

"So, you finally learned who the Alpha is, little Spark?", she smirks down at him after seconds of him still not reacting to her.

This stops all thoughts, Laxus tenses up before he let's out a low warning growl and his eyes turn to slits, sending her a threatening glare.

No words are spoken. Laxus has lost the control on his own instincts the moment he heard her saying that she is the Alpha. Never before has someone truly tried to take his Alpha position in a group.

Well, he and Gajeel are probably in a fight like situation about who the true Alpha is, that is probably the reason why the two off them always start to fight. Why they behave like Natsu and Gray. They just have to find out which of them will be the Leader or Alpha in this group. But with them it's more like a silent competition, more or less for show because neither of them wants to just give the other the Alpha position.

But Gajeel acknowledges Laxus higher position because of his S-class status inside of the Guild, something it seems the small blonde on top of him doesn't.

She challenges his position. And that is something he can't just ignore. It seems that they have reached the point where they have to clear once and for all who will become the Alpha.

Laxus rears up in her hold, letting his lightning run over his body shocking Lucy in the process.

The moment Lucy felt the shift in Laxus behavior she activated her second link, protecting herself from most of Laxus' lightning. But it still hurt, she growls out in pain and pushes more magic in both her links. Her whole body begins to glow golden with the black scales shimmering under it, adding a dangerous glint to her normally alluring glow.

A battle of strength starts. Laxus with his strong build and Lucy with the added strength from her link, still it's hard for Lucy to hold him down.

It get's harder and harder for the blonde to maintain her hold on him.

They both growl at each other, baring their teeth, or in Laxus case his fangs.

The moment Laxus is able to break out of her hold and throw her off, the door behind them opens with a crash.

The next second, Laxus, who was about to get on top of her to force her into submission, is hit with a fire roar. Swords and ice follow shortly after.

Lucy's attention shifts, she has to protect a member of her pack. She has to protect Laxus.

Laxus being hit with these different attacks and hearing Lucy's old Team screaming at him is finally able to get his instincts under control. Shame flashes trough him, it's been a long time since he lost his control, the last time being Fantasia.

Before the shame can anchor in his heart he is attacked again and has to focus on his defense.

Or he would have to focus on his defense if Lucy hadn't stepped in and stopped the incoming attacks.

Lucy pushes even more of her magic in the link to gain more of the Regulus magic, brightening the light surrounding her and blinding the mages around her in the process.

Her old Team, thanks to Natsu making them believe that Laxus has attacked Lucy, doesn't stop their own attacks. They're to absorbed in their thoughts to protect Lucy, that they don't realize that the one their attacking is the one they want to protect.

Lucy, not being able to fight all three of them at once all the while protecting Laxus, even if he doesn't want her to do so, isn't able to avoid all of the incoming attacks and get's hit by Natsu's fire. Too absorbed in the fight she only hisses in pain and takes out her whip to deflect some of Erza's swords.

But Laxus notices. And even though they were fighting not too long ago for dominance, now, he too wants to protect the small blonde woman. "Stop, you idiots!"

Natsu only growls in respond at the other Slayer, still not realizing that the one he is fighting is Lucy, they are all to blinded by their rage.

Lucy narrowly dodges a sword but is not able to avoid the other one directly behind it and it smashes against her scaled skin. That is too much for them to take, the scales split and a rather deep cut begins to leak blood.

Enough is enough, Laxus growls out in fury and turns into lightning, flashing from first Natsu to Erza and at last to Gray giving the unsuspecting mages a shock. He flies back to Lucy, landing directly in front of her and stops his magic, "Enough! You're fighting Lucy and not me! You've hurt the one, you want to protect!" He glares at them before turning back around to the blonde, holding her injured arm to her chest, behind him. "Are you all right, Blondie?"

He wants to say more, but seeing her expression he stops for now. The rest can wait for later.

"Oh, that's nothing... I got more serious wounds on missions with Team Natsu.", Lucy answers him finally able to control her own instincts again, now that Laxus took the others down.

"Well, that is something we can discuss later.. But lets go and find Wendy to heal you up.", he waits for her to move in front of him, not trusting that her Team is really unconscious and wants to be able to shield her if they decide to attack him again.

But Lucy has other plans, she walks straight up to her old Team, kicking each of them one time to gain their attention.

"Luu..", Natsu starts but Lucy interrupts him.

"No Natsu, you will listen! You all will listen! I don't know why you came out and just attacked Laxus and I don't care! You can't just go around and attack without knowing what is going on!"

"But Luuuce! He was the one attacking you!", the Slayers whines.

"You assume that he attacked me! But he didn't! Yes, we were fighting, but that's because we were training! And I was the one who attacked him first because I don't have my new abilities under control", and with that she turns around, grabs Laxus arms and drags him behind her inside the Guild.

At the door they run into the rest of their Team with Wendy in tow. Gajeel of course heard the most of it but didn't think that they had to step in so he stopped the young Slayer from storming out and instead told he to wait and see if she has to heal someone.

"Lucy-nee, let me see your arm!", and that is what she does, a sigh escaping her lips the moment the cut is closed and no longer hurting.

"Thanks Wendy, do you want to eat lunch together with us? I know you want to know what happend, I or we can tell while eating.", she asks her. Wendy nods and Gajeel and Bickslow bring them over to their table with the already ordered food waiting for them.

They sit down and order a little more for the little Slayer and Carla.

"Uh... Blondie? I'm sorry that I..."

"Stop right there, Sparky! It's me who should apologize, I know that it was only meant playful.. And I wanted to react to it that way too, but sometimes it's just so hard to control these instincts... You already know that. And I know that you Slayers have to control your own instincts too, so it's really not your fault if my actions triggered your instincts.", she stops him before he can apologize to her.

He contemplates this for a moment and then nods, "Alright, Blondie."

"Instincts? You have instincts, Lucy-nee?", Wendy looks questioningly up at her.

"Yeah, I just recently got some. Don't tell anyone else okay?", Wendy nods before Lucy begins to tell her about her new abilities.

"So that means you have now the same instincts as we Slayers?"

"I'm not sure if I have exactly the same instincts as you do, but I know that I want to protect my pack and to be the Alpha in said pack.", hearing her say this leads to both Laxus and Gajeel growling at her and objecting at the same time, "You won't be the Alpha, I'm going to be the Alpha!"

Lucy only growls back and glares at them before she continues eating.

Wendy gazes in wonder at her big sister figure and the big Slayers. She would have thought that they would react more to it, especially after Lucy only glaring and growling back at them. In now way she would have expected them to shut up and continue eating themselves.

Either they're rather good at controlling their instincts or Lucy already is to some degree their Alpha and they're now only challenging her to see if she is worthy of this position. But Wendy isn't too sure with her assumptions, as a female Slayer she has other instincts than them, and don't want to say anything to them about it at the moment.

No, she decides for herself to watch them and see what will happen.

Bickslow is the one to break the silence at their table, "So Cosplayer, boss man, your old Team attacked you once again just like that? Gajeel wouldn't tell me what is going on, I only noticed him going all tense along with little Bluebird here..."

"Ugh... don't ask... I really don't know whats wrong with them. But yes, they attacked Laxus, thinking that he was attacking me. They didn't stop to find out what was really going on, only thinking that they have to rescue me and attacked."

"I can tell you more to that.. The Titania and Icicle were already here sitting with their new Teams when Natsu came in running directly to them and telling them about Laxus attacking you outside. Before I had the chance to say anything to that they were already running outside.", Gajeel explains what he heard.

"Another fight for dominance?", Bickslow cackles.

"In the beginning yes, then it turned into one for the Alpha position in this group and I too lost control over my instincts.", Laxus answers.

"For the Alpha position?", Bickslow turns to Gajeel lolling his tongue out, "And you didn't want in on that fight? Or was it the fear of being dominated from Lucy again that stopped you?"

"I was more focused on Natsu storming to the Guild than joining in on that fight, I knew that there was no way that they were going to be able to finish that one.", Gajeel explains, sounding more like a pretext than an actual explanation.

Four sets of eyebrow's lifts at that, looking at him skeptically but not saying anything to him none the less.

"Oh!", Wendy suddenly jolts up, "Maybe I should go and see if the others need my help? I mean.."

"Nah, Squirt, let them be, they deserve to feel a little pain from Laxus' shock. Maybe then they will finally think a little more about their actions.", Gajeel stops her before she can stand up and run outside.

* * *

After finishing with their lunch they continue to sit together and talk about different things.

Wendy tells them that Natsu and Romeo decided to call their new Team 'Team Blaze' because they have two mages who're using fire. Lisanna and herself didn't get a chance to protest against the new name because Natsu ran to tell Master about it immediately. Later Romeo told her that he only suggested the name in fun and that he didn't expect Natsu to instantly make this really their name.

"That sounds like something Natsu does... I mean our old Team was named like that too. We just formed the Team and were already called Team Natsu, something I always found stupid. I mean, who would call a Team after one person of the Team, especially when the person wasn't even the Leader of said Team. He was just the loudest...", Lucy tells them with a sigh.

Before they can speak further about it Natsu shouts from his table with the rest of his new Team. "Wendy, Carla! We're going on a mission, come on!", he waves with a mission paper in front of them, having moved over to their table while shouting.

"We're coming, Natsu-san.", Wendy answers before turning back around to tell the others goodbye. But Natsu, being his impatient-self, grabs her arm and pulls her to the door. Wendy lets him do so and only winks at the others over her shoulder.

"This brat!", Laxus growls annoyed.

"Bye, Wendy! Try to stop the idiot from causing too much destruction...", Lucy calls after them.

Natsu's "Oi!" is drowned out by Wendy's "I will try my best!" and the following laughter while now Lisanna is the one dragging Natsu away before he starts a fight.

After that it's silent at their table for a while, each pondering on their own thoughts' That is until Bickslow begins to speak, "So Cosplayer, you want to meet the rest of our old Team. As we said yesterday, Freed would probably pass out in joy with all the new knowledge if you decide to tell him and I'm sure that Ever would like you too."

"I would love that, I always wanted to get to know you all better. What about you, Gaj-chan?", she turns to the Slayer with a teasing smirk on her lips.

Before answering he lets out an annoyed huff, "And here I hoped that you would stop calling me that, Bunny Girl." At this he only gets a raised eyebrow. "We'll see about that one later... I have to go now, I'm meeting up with Levy at the bookstore."

"Ohh? Again?", Lucy's smirk turns into a fullblown grin, "Well then, say Hello from me and treat her well!" She winks at him and the next second shoves him out of the booth. Instead of arguing with her he just turns around to hide his little blush, too late, and leaves a giggling blonde behind.

* * *

 **Finally the next Chapter is finished!**

 **This one didn't turn out like I thought it would but I hope that you all like it none the less. Originally I didn't want such a fight between Lucy and Laxus, I wanted it to be more playful but somehow it turned out like this after I realized that Lucy just can't control her instincts at the moment. But don't worry there will definitely be more playfulness in the future between all of them.**

 **Love you all,**

 **Miyuki**


End file.
